'  Ci" 


THE  UNIVERSITY  OF  NORTH  CAROLINA 


The  James  Sprunt  Historical  Publications 


PUBLISHED  UNDER  THE  DIRECTION  OF 


The   North   Carolina    Historical    Society 


J.  G.  ue  Roulhac  Hamilton   I 


Henry  McGilbert  Wag&taff 


Editors 


VOL.  10 


No.   1 


CONTENTS 
Benjamin  Sherwood  Hedrick 


Chapel,  Hill,  N.  C. 

PUBLISHED  BY  THE  UNIYERSITY 

1911 


Cfje  Hifcrarp 

Of    the 

Ontoersitp  of  JBottfi  Carolina 


Collection  of  jRort!)  Catoliniana 

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THE  UNIVERSITY  OF  NORTH  CAROLINA 


The  James  Sprunt  Historical  Publications 


PUBLISHED  UNDER  THE  DIRECTION  OF 


The    North    Carolina    Historical    Society 

J.  G.  he  Rodlhac  Hamilton   {  j?,.. 
tt  M^  „r  YtLditors 

Henry  McGilbert  Wagstaff   \ 


VOL.  10  No.  I 


CONTENTS 
Benjamin  Sherwood  Hedrick 


Chapel  Hill,  N.  C. 
PUBLISHED  BY  THE  UNIVERSITY 
1910 


THE  UNIVERSITY  PRESS 
CHAPfiL  i  (ILL.  N.  O 


PREFACE 


The  letters  and  documents  bearing  on  the  Hedrick  case  have 
been  gathered  by  the  author  from  various  sources  and  are  here 
printed  with  only  such  editorial  additions  as  seemed  necessary 
to  preserve  the  connection  and  make  the  story  clear.  While  the 
events  narrated  are  part  of  the  history  of  the  University  of 
North  Carolina,  they  also  seem  to  be  so  illustrative  of  typical 
Southern  conditions  in  the  late  fifties  as  to  be  of  interest  to  all 
students  of  the  period. 

The  author,  or  more  properly,  the  editor,  wishes  to  make 
grateful  acknowledgment  of  the  kindness  of  Mr.  R.  D.  W.  Connor, 
Secretary  of  the  North  Carolina  Historical  Commission,  and 
Mr.  H.  M.  Lydenberg,  Reference  Librarian  of  the  Astor  Library, 
in  securing  material  for  him. 

Chapel  Hill,  N.  C,  December  14th,  1910. 


I 

o 
ft 


Digitized  by  the  Internet  Archive 

in  2012  with  funding  from 

University  of  North  Carolina  at  Chapel  Hill 


http://archive.org/details/benjaminsherwoodOOhami 


BENJAMIN  SHERWOOD   HEDRICK 

One  of  the  greatest  evils  of  the  system  of  American  slavery 
was  the  denial  in  the  South  of  freedom  of  speech  and  of  opinion 
in  regard  to  it.  As  the  question  entered  politics  the  evil  became 
intensified  until  it  was  almost  unbearable.  This  violation  of  one 
of  the  fundamental  principles  of  American  doctrine  was  indeed 
a  late  development  and  was  largely  the  result  of  outside  pres- 
sure. Washington,  Jefferson,  Clay,  and  a  host  of  other  distin- 
guished sons  of  Southern  States  were  frank  in  their  opposition 
to  the  institution.  The  American  Colonization  Society  had  many 
members  in  the  South  and  emancipation  societies  for  many  years 
throve  mightily  in  the  midst  of  slavery.  One  of  these  in  North 
Carolina  had  more  than  thirty  branches  in  various  towns  with 
a  large  and  quite  an  influential  membership.  In  North  Carolina, 
indeed,  considerable  opposition  was  to  be  expected.  Slavery 
was  never  so  profitable  there  as  in  the  neighboring  States  and 
the  institution  never  established  so  firm  a  hold  upon  its  people. 
The  presence,  too,  of  many  of  the  Society  of  Friends  and  the 
influence  exerted  by  them  also  contributed  to  arouse  an  active 
opposition.  But  with  the  growth  of  hostile  abolition  sentiment 
in  the  North  and  the  consequent  attacks  upon  the  South,  the 
expression  of  sentiments  inimical  to  slavery  became  of  rare 
occurrence  and  North  Carolina  like  the  other  Southern  States 
soon  reached  the  point  of  refusing  to  tolerate  any  utterance  of 
anti-slavery  opinion. 

After  1850,  however,  it  is  apparent  that  opposition  was  grow- 
ing. In  the  main  it  sprang  from  the  small  farmer  and  working 
man  who  saw  in  slavery  a  bar  to  progress  for  himself  and  his 
children.  Thousands  of  such  men  left  the  State  for  the  North- 
west to  build  their  lives  anew  and  to  hand  down  to  their  children 
an  undying  hatred  of  the  institution  which  they  regarded  as  a 
blight  upon  the  land  of  their  nativity.  This  opposition  was  not 
based  upon  moral  grounds  nor  did  solicitude  for  the  negro  have 


6  James  Sprunt  Historical  Monograph. 

anything  to  do  with  it.  The  explanation  of  it  was  to  be  found 
only  in  economic  and  social  conditions  springing  out  of  its  exist- 
ence. The  wrong  of  slavery  was  not  to  the  slave,  but  to  the 
non-slaveholder, — to  labor  generally. 

This  anti-slavery  sentiment  in  the  State  found  expression 
in  1857  in  Hinton  Rowan  Helper's  Impending  Crisis,  a  most 
remarkable  book  and  one  entirely  representative  of  a  large 
body  of  opinion,  unorganized,  unconscious  of  its  power,  but  slowly 
coming  to  a  clear  conception  of  the  burden  which  slavery  imposed 
upon  the  South  and  upon  their  own  class  in  particular.  But 
for  John  Brown's  raid  and  the  rapid  progress  of  the  States  to 
civil  war,  North  Carolina  of  the  sixties  would  probably  have 
been  interesting  as  the  scene  of  a  fierce  internal  contest  over 
slavery  with  the  odds  in  favor  of  its  gradual  emancipation. 

One  of  the  most  interesting  chapters  in  this  unorganized 
anti-slavery  movement  is  to  be  found  in  the  case  of  Benjamin 
Sherwood  Hedrick,  Professor  of  Chemistry  in  the  University  of 
North  Carolina. 

Mr.  Hedrick  was  born  near  Salisbury,  in  what  is  now  David- 
son county,  but  was  then  a  part  of  Rowan,  on  February  13, 
1827.  He  was  of  German  stock,  his  great-grandfather,  Peter 
Hedrick,  having  come  to  the  State  in  the  German  migration  from 
Pennsylvania.  His  father.  John  Leonard  Hedrick,  was  a  farmer 
and  builder  who  by  energy  and  thrift  had  reached  a  position 
of  prosperity  and  comfort.    His  mother  was  Elizabeth  Sherwood. 

After  going  to  school  for  some  years  in  the  neighborhood  of 
his  home,  Hedrick  went  to  Lexington,  N.  C,  where  he  attended 
a  school  taught  by  the  Rev.  Jesse  Rankin.  Here  he  became 
much  interested  in  his  work  and  formed  the  determination  to 
go  to  college.  Entering  the  sophomore  class  of  the  University 
of  North  Carolina  in  1848,  he  graduated  in  1851  with  first 
honors.  He  took  an  especially  high  stand  in  mathematical 
studies  and  was  recommended  by  President  Swain  to  ex-Gover- 
nor William  A.  Graham,  then  Secretary  of  the  Navy,  who 
appointed  him  to  a  clerkship  in  the  office  of  the  Nautical  Al- 
manac.   He  was  stationed  at  Cambridge,  Massachusetts,  and  took 


Benjamin  Sherwood  Hedrick.  7 

advantage  of  this  opportunity  to  take  advanced  work  in  chemistry 
and  mathematics  under  Horsford  and  Peirce  and  also  attended 
the  lectures  of  Agassiz. 

In  1852  he  was  offered  a  position  at  Davidson  College  and 
at  the  same  time  President  Swain  wrote  him  that  he  was  being 
considered  for  a  new  chair  at  the  University.  The  department 
was  Chemistry  applied  to  Agriculture  and  the  Arts.  A  letter 
to  Governor  Swain  explains  his  motives  in  accepting  the  position. 

B.  S.  Hedrick  to  D.  L.  Swain. 

Cambridge,  December  13,  1852. 

My  Dear  Sir:  — 

Yours  of  the  8th  inst.  was  received  this  morning,  and  as  you  know 
most  of  the  reasons  which  would  induce  me  either  to  accept  or  decline 
the  place  you  have  in  view,  I  can  answer  you  in  a  few  words.  I  am 
writing  that  you  should  use  my  name  before  the  Trustees  if  they  can 
offer  a  compensation  which  you  believe  I  ought  to  acqept.  You  know 
what  they  offer  me  at  Davidson.  My  present  employment  will  prob- 
ably bring  me  as  much  money  as  any  offer  I  have  had,  and  offers  as 
wide  a  field  as  the  ambition  of  any  one  need  desire.  But  it  has  been 
my  intention  from  the  first  to  return  to  Carolina  as  soon  as  I  could 
have  a  fair  opportunity. 

As  I  have  never  given  any  time  to  drawing  and  the  practical  parts 
of  engineering  I  think  I  should  not  now  change  my  course  of  study 
as  much  as  would  be  necessary  to  qualify  myself  in  these  branches. 
1  should  prefer  to  teach  Chemistry  and  Physics — would  not  object  to 
any  of  the  branches  of  Mathematical  Science  except  those  above 
mentioned. 

I  have  not  had  official  notice  of  my  election  at  Davidson,  and  am 
in  no  way  committed  to  them.  Though  it  is  probable  I  shall  accept 
there  if  I  do  not  go  to  the  University.  For  they  seem  disposed  to  do 
the  best  they  can  to  obtain  me,  and  as  a  Carolinian  I  cannot  well 
refuse  them.  Tho'  by  no  means  assured  that  it  would  be  doing  the 
best  for  myself. 

Please  let  me  know  the  result  of  the  action  of  the  Trustees  as 
early  as  practicable. 

Most  respectfully  yours, 

B.   S.  Hedrick. 
Hon.  David  L.  Swain,  Raleigh,  N.  C. 

Mr.  Hedrick  was  brought  up  in  a  family  and  community 
in  which  anti-slavery  feeling  was  common  and  his  life  at  the 
North  had  tended  to  strengthen  his  belief  that  slavery  was  an 
evil.  But  when  he  entered  upon  his  duties  in  1854  he  took  no 
part  in  the  constant   discussions  of  the  subject  and  devoted 


8  James  Sprunt  Historical  Monograph. 

himself  with  great  success  to  building  up  a  strong  department. 
The  campaign  of  1856  was  one  of  intense  excitement  in  North 
Carolina  and  feeling  ran  high.  In  politics,  Mr.  Hedrick  had 
always  been  a  Democrat  and  in  the  State  elections  in  August 
he  voted  that  ticket.  Rumors,  however,  of  his  inclination 
towards  the  new  and  hated  "black"  Republican  party  went 
abroad  and  on  September  17,  the  following  editorial  appeared 
in  the  North  Carolina  Standard,  the  organ  of  the  Democratic 
party  and  easily  the  most  influential  paper  in  the  State,  whose 
editor,  William  W.  Holden,  was  the  leader  of  pro-slavery 
and  secession  sentiment  in  North  Carolina. 

FREMONT  IN  THE  SOUTH 

Can  it  be  possible  that  there  are  men  In  the  South  who  prefer 
Fremont  for  the  Presidency,  or  who  would  acquiesce  in  his  election? 
The  New  York  Herald  boasts  that  there  are  already  Electoral  tickets 
in  Virginia,  Kentucky,  and  Maryland;  and  it  adds,  "Texas  and  North 
Carolina  will  probably  soon  follow  suit."  This  Is  a  vile  slander  on 
the  Southern  people.  No  Fremont  Electoral  ticket  can  be  formed 
in  North  Carolina — mark  that!  It  may  be  that  there  are  traitors  here 
and  there,  in  this  State,  as  there  were  tories  in  the  Revolution,  who 
would  thus  deliver  up  their  native  land  to  the  fury  of  the  fanatic 
and  the  torch  of  the  incendiary;  but  they  are  few  and  far  between. 
They  do  not  number  more  than  one  in  one  hundred. 

The  election  of  Fremont  would  inevitably  lead  to  a  separation  of 
the  States.  Even  if  no  overt  or  direct  act  of  dissolution  should  take 
plaee,  he  could  not  carry  on  the  government  in  the  South.  No  true 
o*  decent  Southern  man  would  accept  office  under  him;  and  our 
people  would  never  submit  to  have  their  postoflices,  custom  houses 
and  the  like,  filled  with  Fremont's  Yankee  abolitionists.  We  would 
not  expect  nor  ask  the  Northern  people  to  submit  in  a  similar  case — 
and  we  will  not  submit.  Suppose,  for  example,  the  Southern  people, 
harin#  the  power  to  elect  a  President,  should  nominate  a  candidate 
on  sectional  grounds,  pledge  to  wield  all  the  powers  of  the  federal 
government  to  extend  and  propagate  domestic  slavery  and  pledge 
to  measures  of  gross  aggression,  without  regard  to  the  Constitution, 
o*  the  rights  and  property  of  the  Northern  people;  and  suppose  they 
should  elect  such  a  candidate — what  would  the  North  do?  They  would 
rested  it,  and  they  ought  to  resist  it.  They  would  regard  It  as  a 
vital  dissolution  of  the  Union,  and  would  act  accordingly.  The  Union 
can  neither  be  administered  nor  can  it  pxist  on  sectional  grounds. 

II  there  be  Fremont  men  among  us,  let  them  be  silenced  or  required 
to  leave.  The  expression  of  black  Republican  opinions  in  our  midst, 
im  tacompatibie  with  our  honor  and  safety  as  a  people.  If  at  all 
neoeesary,  we  shall  refer  to  this  matter  again.  Let  our  schools  and 
seminaries  of  learning  be  scrutinized;  and  if  black  Republicans  be 
found  In  them,  let  them  be  driven  out.  That  man  is  neither  a  fit  nor 
a  safe  instructor  of  our  young  men,  who  even  inclines  to  Fremont 
and  black  Republicanism. 


Benjamin  Sherwood  Hedrich.  9 

On  September  29th,  the  Standard  published  under  the  sig- 
nature "An  Alumnus"  the  following  letter  written  by  John  A. 
Engelhard,  a  law  student  in  the  University  who  had  been  an 
honor  graduate  in  1854: 

COMMUNICATIONS 
FREMONT   IN  THE  SOUTH 

Messrs.  Editors: — We  have  noticed  with  pleasure  that  Southern 
fathers  are  beginning  to  feel  the  necessity  of  educating  their  sons 
south  of  Mason  and  Dixon's  line.  The  catalogues  of  Yale  and  other 
Northern  armories  of  Sharpe's  rifles,  have  but  few  (shame  upon 
those  few)  Southern  names.  The  importance  of  emancipating  our 
young  men  from  the  baneful  influences  of  the  North — and  no  where 
is  this  Influence  more  zealously  exerted  and  powerfully  felt  than  in 
Northern  colleges  and  under  black  Republican  teachers — has  taken 
firm  hold  on  our  people;  and  we  notice,  with  a  high  degree  of 
gratitude  to  Bishop  Polk,  of  Louisiana,  that  the  clergy  and  the  church 
are  in  a  fair  way  of  taking  concerted  measures  for  more  fully  bringing 
about  an  object  so  much  desired.*  We  have  every  reason  to  believe 
that  unless  the  course  of  the  North  very  materially  changes — and  we 
are  forced  to  say,  we  see  no  immediate  chance  for  such  a  result — 
there  will  be  inaugurated  at  the  Soutb  a  system  of  education  congenial 
to  our  Institutions. 

We  are  proud  of  such  names  as  Harvard  and  Yale;  and  feel  that 
such  benefactors  of  the  human  race  should  be  held  In  everlasting 
remembrance  by  a  grateful  country.  But  their  laudable  objects  are 
being  frustrated  by  the  fanatics  that  have  obtained  possession  of  the 
government  of  the  schools  their  charity  has  founded,  for  the  benefit 
equally  of  the  slave  owner  and  the  slave  hirer.  At  the  former,  the 
South  is  insulted  by  the  dismissal  of  an  instructor  for  performing  his 
constitutional  duty  as  judge;  and  at  the  latter  the  Southern  young  men 
see  their  professors  and  fellow  students,  in  the  name  of  the  college — 
nay,  of  the  very  class  of  which  they  are  memoers — buying  religious 
rifles  to  shoot  their  own  brothers  that  may  be  seeking  honorable  and 
profitable  employment  in  Kansas.  These  colleges  have  been  turned 
from  their  legitimate  channels  and  been  perverted  Into  strongholds 
of  fanaticism;  and  from  being  links  of  union  between  all  parts 
of  our  country,  have  become  hot-houses  for  the  nurture  of  artificial 
statesmen  of  the  Garrisonian  school  and  manufactories  of  "bleeding 
Kansas"  tragedies. 

Then,  when  our  fathers  and  guardians  see  such  a  state  of  things 
it.  is  not.  to  be  wondered  at  that  our  Southern  colleges  are  so  largely 
attended,  and  Southern  seminaries  of  all  grades  full  to  overflowing. 

The  cause  Is  palpable — a  determination  to  free  ourselves  from 
Northern  thraldom  and  stop  the  revenue  accruing  to  their  abolition 
treasuries  from  the  labor  of  Southern  slaves.  It  is  a  praiseworthy 
object;    and  we  glory  to  see  this  great  reaction  in  the  proportionate 

"This  refers  to  the  discussion  then  going  on  as  to  the  establishment 
of  the  University  of  the  South.  The  plan  was  carried  out  and  the  Uni- 
versity founded  at  Sewaree,  Tennessee.  One  of  the  main  Ideas  of  its 
founders,  Bishops  Polk  of  Louisiana  and  Otey  of  Tennessee,  both  alumni 
of  the  University  of  North  Carolina,  was  that  here  some  practical  solu- 
tion of  the  slavery  problem   might  be  worked  out. 


10  James  Sprunt  Historical  Monograph. 

numbers  of  Northern  and  Southern  schools. 

But  the  question  occurs,  are  we  entirely  rid  of  Northern  influence 
in  the  South?  Can  North  Carolina  tell  the  world  that  her  seminaries 
of  learning  aie  free  from  tlie  corrupting  influences  of  black  Republican- 
ism, and  Southerners  can  receive  Southern  education  unmixed  with 
instructions  hostile  to  the  feelings  and  opinions  their  parents  have 
instilled  into  them?  Nay,  can  the  Trustees  of  our  State  University 
invite  pupils  to  the  institution  under  their  charge  with  the  assurance 
that  this  main  stream  of  education  contains  no  deadly  poison  at  its 
fountain  head?  Can  boys  be  taken  from  Northern  colleges  and  trans- 
ferred to  our  University  with  perfect  security? 

We  have  been  led  to  these  considerations,  Messrs.  Editors,  by  an 
article  headed  "Fremont  in  the  South"  in  a  late  issue  of  the  Standard, 
and  more  particularly  the  following  closing  paragraph: 

"If  there  be  Fremont  men  among  us,  let  them  be  silenced  or  required 
to  leave.  The  expression  of  black  Republican  opinions  in  our  midst  is 
incompatible  with  our  honor  and  safety  as  a  people. 

"If  at  all  necessary  we  shall  refer  to  this  matter  again.  Let  our 
schools  and  seminaries  of  learning  be  scrutinized;  and  if  black  Repub- 
licans be  found  in  them  let  them  be  driven  out.  That  man  is  neither 
a  fit  nor  a  safe  instructor  of  our  young  men,  who  even  inclines  to 
Fremont  and  black  Republicanism."  We  were  very  much  gratified 
to  notice  this  article  in  your  paper  at  this  particular  time;  for  we  have 
been  reliably  informed  that  a  professor  at  our  State  University  is  an 
open  and  avowed  supporter  of  Fremont,  and  declares  his  willingness — 
nay,  his  desire — to  support  the  black  Republican  ticket;  and  the  want 
of  a  Fremont  electoral  ticket  in  North  Carolina  is  the  only  barrier 
to  this  Southern  professor  from  carrying  out  his  patriotic  wishes.  Is 
he  a  fit  or  safe  instructor  for  our  young  men? 

If  our  information  be  entirely  correct  in  regard  to  the  political 
tendencies  and  Fremont  bias  of  this  professor,  ought  he  not  to  be 
"required  to  leave",  at  least  dismissed  from  a  situation  where  his 
poisonous  influence  is  so  powerful,  and  his  teachings  so  antagonistical 
to  the  "honor  and  safety"  of  the  University  and  the  State?  Where  is 
the  creative  power?  To  them  we  appeal.  Have  they  no  restrictive 
clause  in  the  selection  of  instructors  or  limiting  code  in  regard  to 
their  actions? 

If  the  Trustees  or  Faculty  have  no  powers  in  regard  to  the  matter 
in  question,  we  think  if  a  fit  object  of  early  legislation  at  the  next 
meeting  of  our  General  Assembly.  This  ought  and  must  be  looked  to. 
We  must  have  certain  security,  under  existing  relations  of  North 
with  South,  that  at  State  Universities  at  least  we  will  have  no  canker 
worm,  preying  at  the  very  vitals  of  Southern  institutions. 

Upon  what  ground  can  a  Southern  instructor  relying  for  his  sup- 
port upon  Southern  money,  selected  to  impart  healthy  instruction  to 
the  sons  of  Southern  slave  owners,  and  indebted  for  his  situation  to 
a  Southern  State,  excuse  his  support  of  Fremont,  with  a  platform  which 
eschews  the  lathers  of  his  pupils  and  the  State  from  whose  University  he 
received  his  station  and  from  whose  treasury  he  supports  his  family? 

Does  he  tell  the  young  men  that  he  is  in  favor  of  a  man  for  the 
Presidency,  nominated  by  men  whom  their  fathers  could  not  nor  would 
not  sit  in  Convention  with;  placed  upon  a  platform  hostile  to  their 
every  interest;  its  separate  planks  put  together  by  the  vilest  Southern- 
haters  of  the  North,  upon  which  all  the  isms  of  Yankeedom  find  aid 


Benjamin  Sherwood  Hedrick.  11 

and  comfort;  whose  Cabinet,  in  the  event  of  his  election,  would  be 
composed  of  such  men  as  Speaker  Bunks,  who  is  willing  to  "let  the 
Union  slide;"  and  Mr.  "Niagara"  Burlingame,  who  demands  an  "anti- 
slavery  Bible  and  an  anti-slavery  God; "  whose  orators  belch  forth 
vile  slanders  upon  the  South  under  hags  whose  venomous  folds  reveal 
but  sixteen  stars,  and  whose  torch-light  processions  do  not  "march 
under  the  flag  nor  keep  step  to  the  music  of  the  Union"?  Does  he 
read  the  following  extract  taken  from  his  candidate's  letter  accepting 
the  nomination:  "I  am  opposed  to  slavery  in  the  abstract  and  upon 
principle,  sustained  and  made  habitual  by  long-nettled  convictions*'1 
Are  these  the  doctrines  he  advocates  to  young  men,  two-thirds  of 
whose  property  consists  in  slaves? 

It  cannot  be  denied  by  any  person  cognizant  of  college  influences, 
that  each  professor  has  his  quota  of  friends  and  admirers  among 
the  students,  and  their  minds  are  to  a  certain  degree,  upon  general 
subjects,  merely  daguerrotypes  of  his  opinions.  This  is  natural.  The 
student  is  young,  and  the  instructors  are  placed  over  them,  in  loco 
parentis,  to  guide  them  correctly;  and  the  young  graduate  leaves  with 
opinions  moulded  by  his  instructors  that  will  cling  to  him  through  life. 

We  ask,  are  we  correctly  informed  concerning  the  political  inclina- 
tion and  expressed  opinions  of  this  professor?  If  not,  we  hope  to  be 
corrected;  and  if  we  are,  we  call  upon  the  proper  authorities  to  take 
action,  for  the  sake  of  the  prosperity  of  our  Alma  Mater  and  the 
good  of  the  State. 

An  Alumnus. 

It  was  plainly  directed  at  Mr.  Hedrick  and  he  was  of  a 
spirit  that  could  not  endure  to  be  attacked  without  making  any 
reply.  He  considered  the  matter  carefully  and,  although  urged 
to  let  the  matter  stand,  became  convinced  that  he  should  answer 
the  communication.  He  accordingly  sent  his  "Defence"  to  the 
Standard,  which  on  October  4th,  published  it  with  this  editorial 
comment : 

"As  a  matter  of  justice  to  Mr.  Hedrick,  we  publish  today  what  he 
styles  his  "Defence"  against  the  charge  of  being  a  black  Republican. 
There  is  not  a  point  made  or  presented  in  this  Defence  which  could 
not  be  triumphantly  met  and  exposed;  but  surely  it  cannot  be  expected 
of  us,  or  of  our  correspondent,  "An  Alumnus,"  or  any  citizen  of  the 
State,  to  argue  with  a  black  Republican.  The  Professor  closes  his 
Defence  with  the  opinion  that  "those  who  prefer  to  denounce"  him 
"should  at  least  support  their  charges  with  their  names."  The  author 
of  "An  Alumnus"  is  a  gentleman  of  high  character,  and  entirely 
responsible  for  what  he  has  said,  or  may  say.  He  is  a  resident  of  this 
place,  and  his  name  can  be  found  out  if  at  all  necessary. 

We  adhere  to  our  opinion  recently  expressed  in  the  Standard.  The 
expression  of  black  Republican  opinions  in  our  midst  is  incompatible 
with  our  honor  and  safety  as  a  people.  That  man  is  neither  a  fit  nor 
a  safe  instructor  of  our  young  men,  whoever  inclines  to  befriend  black 
Repub  licanism. 

This  is  a  matter  however,  for  the  Trustees  of  the  University.  We 
take  it  for  granted  that  Professor  Hedrick  will  be  promptly  removed. 


12  James  Sprunt  Historical  Monograph. 

PROFESSOR  HEDRICK'S  DEFENCE 

Messrs.  Editors: — In  the  last  "Standard,"  I  see  a  communication, 
signed  "Alumnus."  Although  my  name  is  not  mentioned  therein,  still 
i  suppose  there  is  little  doubt  that  it  was  all  intended  for  me.  Now, 
politics  not  being  my  trade,  I  feel  some  hesitation  in  appearing  before 
the  public,  especially  at  a  time  like  this,  when  there  seems  to  be  a 
greater  desire  on  the  part  of  those  who  give  direction  to  public  opinion 
to  stir  up  strife  and  hatred,  than  to  cultivate  feelings  of  respect  and 
kindness.  But,  lest  my  silence  be  misinterpreted,  I  will  reply,  as 
biiefly  as  possioie  to  this,  as  it  appears  to  me,  uncalled-for  attack 
on  my  politics. 

Then,  to  make  the  matter  short,  I  say  I  am  in  favor  of  the  election 
of  Fremont  to  the  Presidency;  and  these  are  my  reasons  for  my 
preference: 

1st.  Because  I  like  the  man.  He  was  born  and  educated  at  the 
South.  He  has  lived  at  the  North  and  the  West,  and  therefore  has  an 
opportunity  of  being  acquainted  with  our  people, — an  advantage  not 
possessed  by  his  competitors.  He  is  known  and  honored  both  at  home 
and  abroad.  He  has  shown  his  love  of  his  country  by  unwavering 
devotion  to  its  interests.  And  whether  teaching  school  for  the  support 
of  his  widowed  mother,  or  exploring  the  wilds  of  the  great  West; 
whether  enlarging  the  boundaries  of  science  or  acquiring  for  our 
country  the  "golden  State";  whether  establishing  a  constitution  for 
(>iiis  youngest  daughter  of  the  Union,  or  occupying  a  seat  in  the  Senate 
of  the  Nation, — in  every  position,  and  under  all  circumstances, — 
whether  demanding  heroic  daring  or  prudent  council,  he  has  always 
possessed  the  courage  to  undertake,  and  the  wisdom  to  carry  through, 
in  reference  to  the  value  of  his  services  in  California,  Mr.  Buchanan 
says,  "he  bore  a  conspicuous  part  in  the  conquest  of  California,  and 
in  my  opinion  is  better  entitled  to  be  called  the  conqueror  of  California 
than  any  other  man."  For  such  services  and  such  ability,  I  love  to 
do  him  honor.  "Platforms"  and  principles  are  good  enough  in  their 
places;    but  for  the  Presidential  chair,  the  first  requisite  is  the  man. 

2nd.  Because  Fremont  is  on  the  right  side  of  the  great  question 
which  now  disturbs  the  public  peace.  Opposition  to  slavery  extension 
is  neither  a  Northern  nor  a  Southern  sectional  ism.  It  originated  with 
the  great  Southern  statesmen  of  the  Revolution.  Washington,  Jeffer- 
son, Patrick  Henry,  Madison,  and  Randolph  were  all  opposed  to  slavery 
in  the  abstract,  and  were  all  opposed  to  admitting  it  into  new  territory. 
One  of  the  early  acts  of  the  patriots  of  the  Revolution  was  to  pass  the 
ordinance  of  "87"  by  which  slavery  was  excluded  from  all  the  terri- 
tories we  then  possessed.  This  was  going  farther  than  the  Republicans 
of  the  present  day  claim.  Many  of  these  great  men  were  slaveholders; 
but  they  did  not  let  self  interest  blind  them  to  the  evils  of  the  system. 

Jefferson  says  that  slavery  exerts  an  evil  influence  both  on  the 
whites  and  the  blacks;  but  he  was  opposed  to  the  abolition  of  slavery, 
by  which  the  slaves  would  be  turned  loose  among  the  whites.  In  his 
autobiography  he  says:  "Nothing  is  more  certainly  written  in  the 
book  of  fate,  than  that  these  people  are  to  be  free;  nor  is  it  less  certain 
that  the  two  races,  equally  free,  cannot  live  in  the  same  government. 
Nature,  habit,  opinion,  have  drawn  indelible  lines  between  them." 
Among  the  evils  which  he  says  slavery  brings  upon  the  whites,  is  to 
make  them  tyrannical  and  idle.  "With  the  morals  of  the  people  their 
industry  also  is  destroyed.     For  in  a  warm  climate  no  man  will  labor 


Benjamin  Sherwood  Hedrick.  13 

for  himself  who  can  make  another  labor  for  him.  This  is  true,  that 
of  the  proprietors  of  slaves  a  very  small  proportion  indeed,  are  ever 
seen  to  labor."  What  was  true  in  Jefferson's  time  is  true  now.  I 
might  go  on  and  give  "Alumnus"  every  week  from  now  to  the  election, 
a  column  of  good  "black  Republican"  documents,  all  written  by  the 
most  eminent  Southern  statesmen,  beginning  with  Washington,  and 
including  nearly  all  of  eminence  for  ability,  virtue,  and  patriotism, 
and  coming  down  to  our  own  times.  No  longer  ago  than  1850,  Henry 
Clay  declared  in  the  Senate — "I  never  can  and  never  will  vote,  and 
no  earthly  power  ever  will  make  me  vote  to  spread  slavery  over  terri- 
tory where  it  does  not  exist."  At  the  same  time  that  Clay  was  oppose/ 
to  slavery,  he  was,  like  Fremont,  opposed  to  the  least  interference 
by  the  general  government,  with  slavery  in  the  States  where  it  does 
exist. 

Should  there  be  any  interference  with  subjects  belonging  to  State 
policy,  either  by  other  States  or  by  the  federal  government,  no  one 
will  be  more  ready  than  myself,  to  defend  the  "good  old  North,"  my 
native  State.  But  with  Washington,  Jefferson,  Franklin,  Henry,  Ran- 
dolph, Clay,  and  Webster  for  political  teachers,  I  cannot  believe  that 
slavery  is  preferable  to  freedom,  or  that  slavery  extension  is  one  of 
the  constitutional  rights  of  the  South.  If  "Alumnus"  thinks  that 
Calhoun,  or  any  other,  was  a  wiser  statesman  or  better  Southerner 
than  either  Washington  or  Jefferson,  he  is  welcome  to  his  opinion.  I 
shall  not  attempt  to  abridge  his  liberty  in  the  least.  But  my  own 
opinions  I  will  have,  whether  he  is  willing  to  grant  me  that  right  of 
every  free  man  or  not.  I  believe  that  I  have  had  quite  as  good  an 
opportunity  as  he  has  to  form  an  opinion  on  the  questions  now  to  be 
settled.  And  when  "Alumnus"  talks  of  "driving  me  out"  for  sentiments 
once  held  by  these  great  men,  I  cannot  help  thinking  that  he  Is 
becoming  rather  fanatical. 

For  the  information  of  "Alumnus"  I  will  state  that  he  has  put 
himself  to  unnecessary  trouble  in  blazoning  this  matter  before  the 
public.  The  whole  subject  belongs  exclusively  to  the  jurisdiction  of 
the  Trustees  of  the  University.  They  are  men  of  integrity  and 
influence,  and  have  at  heart  the  best  interests  of  the  University.  There 
is  no  difficulty  in  bringing  this,  or  any  other  question  relating  to  the 
Faculty  or  students,  before  them.  "Alumnus"  has  also  made  another 
mistake,  in  supposing  that  the  Faculty  take  upon  themselves  to 
Influence  the  political  opinions  of  the  students.  The  students  come 
to  College  generally,  with  their  party  politics  already  fixed;  and  it  Is 
exceedingly  rare  for  them  to  change  while  here.  It  has,  however, 
been  often  remarked  that  a  very  violent  partizan  at  College,  is  pretty 
sure  to  "turn  over"  before  he  has  left  College  long.  I  have  been 
connected  with  our  University,  as  student  and  Professor,  for  six  years, 
and  am  free  to  say  that  I  know  no  institution,  North  or  South,  from 
which  partizan  politics  and  sectarian  religion  are  so  entirely  excluded. 
And  yet  we  are  too  often  attacked  by  the  bigots  of  both.  For  my  own 
part,  I  do  not  know  the  politics  of  more  than  one  in  a  hundred  of 
the  students,  except  that  I  might  infer  to  which  party  they  belonged, 
from  a  knowledge  of  the  politics  of  their  fathers.  And  they  would 
not  have  known  my  own  predilections  in  the  present  contest,  had  not 
one  of  their  number  asked  me  which  one  of  the  candidates  I  pre- 
ferred. **!%,  S^gft. 

But,    if   "Alumnus"    would   understand   the    state    of   things   here 


14  James  Sprunt  Historical  Monograph. 

correctly,  he  had  better  make  a  visit  to  the  University.  He  would 
find  each  member  of  the  Faculty  busy  teaching  in  his  own  department, 
whether  of  science  or  literature;  and  that  party  politics  is  one  of  the 
branches  which  we  leave  the  student  to  study  at  some  other  place 
and  time.  If  "Alumnus"  does  conclude  to  visit  us,  there  is  another 
matter  to  which  I  might  direct  his  attention.  The  two  societies  here, 
to  the  one  or  the  other  of  which  all  the  students  belong,  have  each 
a  very  good  library,  and  in  those  libraries  are  to  be  found  the  "com- 
plete works"  of  many  of  our  great  statesmen. 

Now,  for  fear  that  the  minds  of  the  students  may  be  "poisoned" 
by  reading  some  of  these  staunch  old  patriots,  would  it  be  well  for 
"Alumnus"  to  exert  himself,  through  the  Legislature  or  otherwise,  to 
"drive"  them  out  of  the  libraries?  It  is  true  the  works  of  Calhoun  are 
in  the  same  case  with  those  of  Jefferson;  but  from  appearances,  the 
Virginian  seems  to  be  read  pretty  often,  whilst  the  South  Carolinian 
maintains  a  posture  of  "masterly  inactivity."  When  I  was  a  student 
in  College,  a  few  years  ago,  the  young  politicians  used  to  debate  in 
the  "Halls"  of  the  societies,  the  same  questions  which  the  old  politicians 
were  debating  in  the  Halls  of  Congress.  The  side  which  opposed  slavery 
in  the  abstract,  generally  had  the  books  in  their  favor,  and  as  the 
records  of  the  societies  will  show,  they  had  quite  often  "the  best  of 
the  argument."  So  that  when  Col.  Fremont  said  that  he  was  "opposed 
to  slavery  in  the  abstract  and  upon  principle,  sustained  and  made 
habitual  by  long-settled  convictions,"  he  but  uttered  the  sentiments  of 
four-fifths  of  the  best  Southern  patriots  from  the  Revolution  down  to 
the  present  day;  and  I  may  add,  of  the  majority  of  the  people  among 
whom  I  was  born  and  educated.  Of  my  neighbors,  friends,  and  kindred, 
nearly  one-half  left  the  State  since  I  was  old  enough  to  remember. 
Many  is  the  time  I  have  stood  by  the  loaded  emigrant  wagon,  and 
given  the  parting  hand  to  those  whose  face  I  was  never  to  look  upon 
again.  They  were  going  to  seek  homes  in  the  free  West,  knowing,  as 
they  did,  that  free  and  slave  labor  could  not  both  exist  and  prosper 
in  the  same  community.  If  any  one  thinks  that  I  speak  without 
knowledge,  let  him  refer  to  the  last  census.  He  will  here  find,  that 
in  1850,  there  were  fifty-eight  thousand  native  North  Carolinians  living 
in  the  free  States  of  the  West.  Thirty-three  thousand  in  Indiana 
alone.  There  were,  at  the  same  time,  one  hundred  and  eighty  thousand 
Virginians  living  in  free  States.  Nov/,  if  these  people  were  so  much 
in  love  with  the  "institution"  why  did  they  not  remain  where  they 
could  enjoy  its  blessings?  It  is  not,  however,  my  object  to  attack 
the  institution  of  slavery.  But  even  the  most  zealous  defender  of  the 
patriarchial  institution  cannot  shut  his  eyes  to  a  few  facts.  One  is, 
that  in  nearly  all  the  slave  States  there  is  a  deficiency  of  labor. 
Since  the  abolition  of  the  African  slave  trade,  there  is  no  source  for 
obtaining  a  supply,  except  from  the  natural  increase.  For  this  reason, 
among  others,  a  gentleman  of  South  Carolina,  in  an  article  published 
in  BeBow's  Review  for  August,  1856,  advocates  a  dissolution  of  the 
Union  in  order  that  the  African  slave  trade  may  be  revived.  From 
North  Carolina  and  Virginia  nearly  the  entire  increase  of  the  slave 
population  during  the  last  twenty  years,  has  been  sent  off  to  the  new 
States  of  the  Southwest.  In  my  boyhood  I  lived  on  one  of  the  great 
thoroughfares  of  travel,  (near  Lock's  Bridge  on  the  Yadkin  River)  and 
have  seen  as  many  as  two  thousand  in  a  single  day,  going  South, 
mostly    in   the   hands   of   speculators.     Now,   the   loss   of   these   twp 


Benjamin  Sherwood  Hedrick.  15 

thousands  did  the  State  a  greater  injury  than  would  the  shipping  off  of  a 
million  dollars.  I  think  I  may  ask  any  sensible  man  how  we  are 
to  grow  rich  and  prosper,  while  "driving  out"  a  million  dollars  a  day. 
I  am  glad,  however,  to  say  that  the  ruinous  policy  is  not  now  carried 
on  to  such  an  extent  as  it  has  been.  But  there  is  still  too  much  of 
it.  I  have  very  little  doubt  that  if  the  slaves  which  are  now  scattered 
thinly  over  Tennessee,  Kentucky,  and  Missouri,  were  back  in  Virginia 
and  North  Carolina,  it  would  be  better  for  all  concerned.  These  old 
States  could  then  go  on  and  develop  the  immense  wealth  which  must 
remain  locked  for  many  years  to  come.  Whilst  the  new  States,  free 
from  a  system  which  degrades  white  labor,  would  become  a  land  of 
Common  schools,  thrift  and  industry,  equal  if  not  superior  to  any  in 
the  Union.  But  letting  that  be  as  it  may,  still  no  one  can  deny  that 
here  in  North  Carolina  we  need  more  men,  rather  than  more  land. 
Then  why  go  to  war  to  make  more  slave  States,  when  we  have  too 
much  territory  already,  for  the  force  we  have  to  work  it?  Our 
fathers  fought  for  freedom,  and  one  of  the  tyrannical  acts  which 
they  threw  in  the  teeth  of  Great  Britian  was  that  she  forced  slavery 
upon  the  Colonies  against  their  will.  Now,  the  secessionists  are  trying 
to  dissolve  the  Union  because  they  are  not  permitted  to  establish 
slavery  in  the  Territory  of  Kansas.  If  the  institution  of  slavery  is  a 
good  and  desirable  thing  in  itself,  it  is  the  easiest  thing  in  the 
world  for  the  people  to  vote  for  its  introduction  at  any  time  after 
they  have  formed  a  Constitution  and  been  admitted  as  a  State.  If  it 
is  not  a  thing  good  and  desirable,  it  would  be  an  act  of  great  oppression 
to  force  it  upon  them.  For,  however  any  one  may  lament  the  evils 
of  slavery,  it  is  almost  impossible  to  get  rid  of  the  system  when  once 
Introduced.  Nullify  it  by  law  if  you  will,  still  the  evil  remains,  per- 
haps aggravated.  But  in  a  new  State  a  few  words  in  the  Constitution 
may  prevent  the  entire  evil  from  entering. 

From  my  knowledge  of  the  people  of  North  Carolina,  I  believe 
that  the  majority  of  them  who  will  go  to  Kansas  during  the  next 
five  years,  would  prefer  that  it  should  be  a  free  State.  I  am  sure 
that  if  I  were  to  go  there  I  should  vote  to  exclude  slavery.  In  doing 
so  I  believe  that  I  should  advance  the  best  interest  of  Kansas,  and  at 
the  same  time  benefit  North  Carolina  and  Virginia,  by  preventing  the 
carrying  of  slaves  who  may  be  more  profitably  employed  at  home. 

Born  in  the  "good  old  North  State",  I  cherish  a  love  for  her  and 
her  people  that  I  bear  to  no  other  State  or  people.  It  will  ever  be 
my  sincere  wish  to  advance  her  intrests.  I  love  also  the  Union  of  the 
States,  secured  as  it  was  by  the  blood  of  my  ancestors;  and  whatever 
Influence  I  possess,  though  small  it  may  be,  shall  be  exerted  for  its 
preservation.  I  do  not  claim  infallibility  for  my  opinions.  Wiser  and 
better  men  have  been  mistaken.  But  holding  as  I  do  the  doctrines 
once  advocated  by  Washington  and  Jefferson,  I  think  I  should  be  met 
by  argument  and  not  by  denunciation.  At  any  rate,  those  who  prefer 
to  denounce  me  should  at  least  support  their  charges  by  their  own 
name. 

B.  S.  Hedrick. 

Chapel  Hill,  October  1st,  1856. 

The  "Defence"  caused  such  excitement  that  a  meeting  of  the 
^Executive  Committee  of  the  Board  of  Trustees  was  called  at 


.6  James  Sprunt  Historical  Monograph. 

jnee  to   consider  the  ease.     Its  proceedings  will  appear  from 
the  following  letter  from  the  Secretary  of  the  Board  of  Trustees : 

Charles  Manly  to  David  Lowrie  8 wain. 

Raleigh,  October  4th,  1856. 

My  dear  Governor: 

The  political  essay  of  Professor  Hedrick  which  appeared  in  the 
Standard  yesterday  has  given  great  pain  to  the  Trustees  and  Friends 
of  the  University.  No  apology  nor  justification  has  been  heard  in 
his  defence.  At  the  meeting  of  the  Executive  Committee  today  a  resolu- 
tion was  offered  requesting  him  to  resign  and  in  case  of  refusal  to  dis- 
miss him  peremptorily. 

But  other  counsels  prevailed,  the  opinions  and  advice  of  other 
Trustees  here,  not  members  of  the  Committee,  were  heard,  the  reso- 
lution was  withdrawn  and  it  was  finally  agreed  unanimously  that  you 
shall  be  requested  to  use  your  influence  in  persuading  him  to  resign. 
Indeed,  I  was  requested  to  go  up  to  the  Hill  and  to  co-operate  with 
you  in  bringing  about  this  result.  But  my  health  is  bad,  I  have  little 
acquaintance  with  Mr.  Hedrick  and  I  can't  see  what  I  could  do  by 
going. 

If  he  has  any  sensibility  or  proper  self-respect  an  intimation  that 
it  is  the  wish  of  the  Trustees  that  he  shall  resign,  will  be  sufficient; 
but  if  he  wishes  to  be  dismissed;  that  he  may  fly  to  Yankeedom  as  the 
great  proscribed:  and  find  refuge  in  the  bosom  of  Black  Republicans 
with  the  blood  of  martyrdom  streaming  from  his  skirts,  then  he  will 
not  resign  but  will  wait  to  be  kicked  out.  I  hope  therefore  that  you 
will  put  on  your  Diplomatic  Cap  and  manage  this  thing  right. 

If  it  were  not  so  painful  for  me  to  sit  up  long  and  write,  I  would 
give  you  a  full  page  on  the  utter  want  of  tact,  good  taste,  prudence 
and  common  sense  in  Hedrick' a  writing  and  publishing  such  an  Essay 
on  the  eve  of  a  heated  political  Campaign. 

He  is  without  excuse  and  is  bound  to  go  overboard — but  the  thing 
la  to  do  this  with  the  least  damage  to  him  and  with  the  least  noise 
and  damage  to  the  Institution. 

Faithfully  your  friend, 

Chas.  Manly.  « 

On  October  6,  the  Faculty  of  the  University  met  to  discuss 

the  matter.    The  following  is  the  record  of  their  proceedings : 

University  of  North  Carolina, 

Chapel  Hill,  Oct.  6,  1856. 

The  Faculty  met  at  12  o'clock,  M.,  under  a  summons  from  the  Presi- 
dent.    Present,  Hon.  David  L.  Swain,  President;  Professors  E.  Mitchell, 

•Charles  Manly  was  a  graduate  of  the  University  In  the  class  of 
1814.  He  was  a  lawyer  by  profession  and  had  served  one  term,  1848 
t»  1850,  as  governor  of  the  State.  He  was  Secretary  and  Treasurer 
of  the  University  from  1821  to  1848  and  from  1851  to  1869.  He  died  hi 
J  87  J. 


Benjamin  Sherwood  Hedrick.  17 

J.  Phillips,  M.  Fetter,  F.  M.  Hubbard,  J.  T.  Wheat,  A.  M.  Shipp,  C. 
Phillips,  B.  S.  Hedrick,  A.  G.  Brown;  Instructor,  H.  Herrissee;  Tutors, 
S.  Pool,  J.  B.  Lucas,  R.  H.  Battle  and  W.  H.  Wetmore. 

The  President  stated  to  the  Faculty  that  he  felt  himself  called 
upon  to  direct  their  attention  to  the  publication  of  Prof.  Hedrick,  in 
the  North  Carolina  Standard  of  Saturday.  Very  few  remarks,  he  said, 
will  suffice  in  relation  to  the  present  subject. 

In  an  institution  sustained  like  this,  by  all  denominations  and  par- 
ties, nothing  should  be  permitted  to  be  done,  calculated  to  disturb 
the  harmonious  intercourse  of  those  who  support  and  those  who 
direct  and  govern  it.  And  this  is  well  known  to  have  been  our  policy 
and  practice,  during  a  long  series  of  years.  Mr.  Hedrick's  testimony 
that  "as  student  and  Professor"  he  has  known  "no  institution,  North 
or  South,  from  which  partizan  politics  and  sectarian  religion  are  so 
carefully  excluded,"  will  be  received  with  perfect  credence  by  our 
graduates  and  by  all  familiar  with  the  state  of  things  among  us. 

To  secure  an  end  so  essential  to  the  reputation,  prosperity,  and 
usefulness  of  the  University,  cautious  forbearance  has  been  practiced 
by  the  Faculty,  and  enjoined  upon  the  students,  in  relation  to  these 
subjects.  The  sermons,  delivered  on  the  Sabbath,  in  the  College 
Chapel,  have  been  confined  to  an  exhibition  of  the  leading  doctrines 
of  Christianity,  with  respect  to  which  no  difference  of  opinion  exists 
among  us;  and  no  student,  during  the  last  twenty  years,  has  been 
permitted  to  discuss  upon  the  public  stage  any  question  of  party 
politics.  This  course  upon  the  part  of  all,  has  been  regarded  as  not 
merely  necessary  to  internal  harmony  and  quiet — in  unison  with  kind 
feeling  and  good  taste,  but  as  due  to  numbers  of  persons  of  different 
tenets  and  opinions,  who  honor  us  with  their  attendance  upon  our 
public  exercises,  and  have  a  right  to  respectful  consideration. 

On  motion  of  Dr.  Mitchell,  seconded  by  Prof.  Fetter,  the  President's 
communications  was  referred  to  a  committee,  consisting  of  Dr.  Mitchell, 
Dr.  Phillips  and  Prof.  Hubbard,  who  reported  the  following  resolutions: 

Resolved.  That  the  course  pursued  by  Prof.  Hedrick,  as  set  forth 
in  his  publication  in  the  North  Carolina  Standard  of  the  4th  inst, 
is  not  warranted  by  our  usages;  and  the  political  opinions  expressed, 
are  not  those  entertained  by  any  other  member  of  this  body. 

Resolved, "That  wliile  we  feel  bound  to  declare  our  pentiments  freely 
upon  this  occasion,  we  entertain  none  other  than  feelings  of  personal 
respect  and  kindness  for  the  subject  of  them;  and  sincerely  regret  the 
indiscretion  into  which  he  seems,  in  this  instance,  to  have  fallen. 

After  a  brief  discussion,  the  resolutions  were  adopted  by  the  fol- 
lowing vote:  Ayes — Messrs.  Mitchell,  Phillips,  Fetter,  Hubbard,  Wheat, 
Shipp,  C.  Phillips,  Brown,  Pool,  Lucas,  Battle,  and  Wetmore.  Nay — 
Mr.  Herrissee,  who  said  that  he  voted  in  the  negative,  "simply  on  the 
ground  that  the  Faculty  is  neither  charged  with  black  Republicanism, 
nor  likely  to  be  suspected  of  it." 

On  motion  of  Dr.  Wheat,  seconded  by  Prof.  Shipp,  the  Secretary 
was  directed  to  transmit  a  copy  of  the  foregoing  proceedings  of  the 
Faculty  to  the  Trustees  of  the  University. 

President  Swain  forwarded  them  to  Charles  Manly  with  the 
following  letter: 

♦Standard,    October    11,    1856. 


18  James  Sprunt  Historical  Monograph . 

David  L.  Swain  to  Charles  Manly. 

Chapel  Hill,   6  Oct.,   1856. 
My  dear   Sir: 

You  will  receive  by  the  present  mail,  the  proceedings  of  the  Faculty 
in  relation  to  the  publication  of  Prof.  Hedrick.  It  seems  to  me  to  be 
important  that  the  opinion  of  the  Faculty,  on  the  subject  to  which  the 
proceedings  were  advanced  be  placed  before  the  public,  without  delay, 
and  I  would  have  had  a  copy  sent  to  Mr.  Holden  at  once  if  I  had  not 
supposed  it  would  be  more  respectful  to  submit  that  to  the  Execu- 
tive Committee  in  the  first  action. 

If  a  meeting  of  the  Committee  cannot  be  had  immediately  or 
whether  it  can  or  cannot,  you  may  if  you  deem  it  proper  send  them  to 
the  Editor  of  the  Standard  forthwith. 

I  somewhat  feared  an  outbreak  on  the  receipt  of  the  Standard, 
condemning  Prof.  Hediick's  communication,  and  there  was  a  noisy 
demonstration  on  Saturday  night.  It  did  not  amount  to  much,  how- 
ever. I  addressed  the  whole  body  of  students  on  the  subject  Sunday 
morning  and  have  reason  to  suppose  that  things  will  go  on  quietly. 
I  perceive  no  symptoms  of  excitement  at  present. 

Yours  very  sincerely, 

D.  L.  Swain. 

Gov.  Manly. 

The  resolutions  were  published  in  the  Standard,  which  com- 
mented as  follows: 

Proceedings  of  (he  Faculty  of  the  Unive •&■*)* 

We  publish  today,  by  request  of  the  Faculty  and  the  Executive  Com- 
mittee of  the  Board  of  Trstees,  the  proceedings  of  the  Faculty  in  rela- 
tion to  Mr.  Hedrick. 

It  is  unquestionably  true,  as  stated  by  Mr.  Herrissee,  that  the 
"Faculty  is  neither  ehaiged  with  black  Republicanism  nor  likely  to 
be  suspected  of  it," — yet,  it  seems  to  us,  they  have  adopted  a  course 
in  this  matter  which  is  entirely  proper,  and  which  must  receive  general 
public  approval. 

It  was  natural  that  the  conduct  of  Mr.  Hedrick  should  excite 
anxiety  in  the  minds  of  the  President  and  Faculty;  and  in  promptly 
repudiating  both  his  conduct  and  his  dangerous  and  unconstitutional 
poMtical  opinions,  they  have  not  only  guarded  themselves  in  advance 
against  the  remotest  suspicion  of  sympathizing  with  him  in  his 
views,  but  they  have  shown  themselves  faithful  to  the  people  of  the 
State,  whose  University  is  their  immediate  charge,  and  have  met,  we 
doubt  not,  the  expectations,  as  their  proceedings  will  receive  the 
unanimous  approval  of  the  Board  of  Trustees. 

Gov.  Swain,  in  his  communication  to  the  Faculty,  has  stated  noth- 
ing more  nor  less  than  the  truth  of  history,  in  relation  to  the  Uni- 
versity and  partizan  politics  and  sectarian  religion.  The  institution 
has  habitually  avoided  both;  and  herein  has  it  found  one  of  the  main 
elements  of  its  prosperity  and  constantly  increasing  usefulness. 

Nothing  remains  now  but  to  cut  off,  if  it  should  be  necessary,  the 

•Standard,     October     11,     1856. 


Benjamin  Sherwood  Hedrick.  19 

offending  member.  Mr.  Hedrick,  it  seems,  was  present  at  the  meeting 
of  the  Faculty  on  the  6th;  and  it  is  not  stated  that  he  withdrew  from 
the  meeting.  Almost  anyone,  it  seems  to  us,  would  have  resigned  at 
once;  but  either  he  does  not  appreciate  the  delicacy  of  his  situation, 
or  he  is  waiting  to  be  dismissed,  so  that  he  may  become  "a  Hon"  at 
Cambridge,  or  in  some  other  black  Republican  circle.  It  is  obvious 
that  his  usefulness  as  a  Professor  in  our  University,  is  gone;  and 
the  sooner  he  leaves  it,  or  is  discharged  from  it,  the  better  for  the 
institution  itself  and  for  the  character  of  the  State. 

We  learn  from  a  young  friend  at  Chapel  Hill,  that  on  Saturday 
night  last  Mr.  Hedrick  was  burnt  in  effigy  in  the  College  Campus,  and 
the  bell  was  tolled  until  the  effigy  was  consumed.  Much  indignation 
was  excited  on  the  receipt  of  the  Standard  containing  his  letter.  We 
learn  from  the  friend  referred  to,  that  Mr.  Hedrick  was  of  the  opinion 
that  we  had  some  agency  in  this — that  we  urged  the  students  to  this 
course,  furnished  the  materials  for  the  effigy,  etc.  Nothing  could  be 
more  unfounded  than  this  imputation.  We  have  had  no  communica- 
tion with  anyone  in  Chapel  Hill,  or  elsewhere,  in  relation  to  Mr. 
Hedrick's  conduct.  We  brought  the  charge  against  him  of  treason 
to  his  section  and  to  the  Constitution;  and  we  published  his  "Defence". 
Our  motto  is,  "Strike,  but  hear."  His  "Defence,"  though  ingenious, 
impudent,  and  highly  objectionable,  is  not  seditious;  and  so  as  we 
had  brought  the  charge  against  him,  we  allowed  him  a  hearing.  In 
this  we  did  right.  Yet,  though  all  his  arguments  might  have  been 
easily  answered,  and  all  his  Freesoil  views  dissipated  by  the  touch 
of  truth,  we  offered  no  reply,  because  we  do  not  choose  to  argue  with 
a  black  Republican.  We  argue  with  no  man  who  proposes  to  degrade 
us,  or  who  approaches  us  with  hostile  intent  and  deadly  weapon. 
That  is  the  reason  we  made  no  reply  to  Mr.  Hedrick.  But  we  studi- 
ously refrained  from  uttering  anything  calculated  to  excite  the  stu- 
dents against  him;  and  we  regret  that  they  burnt  him  in  effigy.  We 
sympathize  with  them  in  their  very  natural  and  very  just  feelings 
of  indignation;  yet  they  are  under  authority  now,  as  they  may  expect 
to  be  in  authority  hereafter,  as  men;  and  it  is  highly  important  that 
order  and  decorum  should  be  preserved  at  the  University.  Besides, 
any  violence  which  may  be  offered  to  Mr.  Hedrick— every  act,  holding 
him  up  to  public  scorn,  will  only  tend  to  his  advantage  and  advance- 
ment among  his  black  Republican  associates  of  the  free  States.  Let  no 
young  gentleman  in  the  University  conclude,  for  a  moment,  that  we 
are  attempting  n  li-Hitr?..  That  is  neither  our  province  nor  our  duty. 
We  are  only  uttering  our  honest  views  as  to  the  proper  course  to  be 
observed.  Let  the  Professor  be,  he  feels  acutely  enough  his  indiscre- 
tion, his  sin,  without  hisses  and  effigies.  We  feel  confident,  and  so 
assure  the  students,  that  the  Executive  Committee  will  perform,  their 
whole  duty.  The  stain  will  be  wiped  out — the  University  will  not  be 
injured,  and  peace  and  good  feeling  will  be  speedily  restored. 

The  same  day  Mr.  Hedrick  wrote  to  Governor  Bragg  in 
explanation  of  the  whole  matter. 

B.  S.  Hedrick  to  Thomas  Bragg. 

Chapel  Hill,   Oct.   6,   1856. 
Dear  Sir:  — 

As  the  course  which  I  have  taken  in  publishing  the  letter  which 


20  James  Sprunt  Historical  Monograph. 

appeared  in  the  Standard  of  the  4th'  inst.  may  appear  to  some, 
extraordinary,  I  hope  a  simple  statement  of  the  reasons  which  have 
induced  me  to  take  this  step  will  be  kindly  received. 

At  the  State  election  in  August  I  went  to  the  polls  to  give  my 
vote.  One  of  the  students  (Mr.  Cozart)  was  in  the  window  at  which 
the  votes  were  taken,  and  over-looked  my  vote  as  I  handed  it  in. 
Seeing  it  to  agree  with  his  own  opinions  in  Politics  (Democratic)  he 
remarked  "that  is  alright."  While  leaving  the  place  of  voting  I  was 
met  by  several  students,  who  began  to  question  me  as  to  how  I  had 
voted,  how  I  should  vote  for  President,  etc.  I  told  them  that  I  did 
not  know  that  I  should  vote  for  President  at  all.  One  asked  whether 
if  there  were  a  Fremont  ticket  I  would  support  it.  I  said  I  would. 
Another  (Mr.  Mullens)  asked  whether  in  case  the  South  were  attacked 
by  the  North  I  would  support  the  North.  I  said,  no,  I  am  of  the 
South  and  for  the  South,  that  against  any  force  from  without  the 
South  woidd  Vie  a  unit.  About  this  time  ;i  returned  Mexican  volun- 
teer came  up,  (he  had  been  drinking  evidently)  and  began  to  talk 
pretty  loud.  He  said  that  it'  the  rich  folks  got  into  a  war  about  the 
negroes  they  might  fight  it  out  themselves.  That  when  he  volunteered 
to  go  to  Mexico,  a  good  many  such  men  put  their  names  down,  and 
then  took  them  off  as  soon  as  the  Company  was  made  up. 

I  replied  that  such  might  have  been  the  case  in  some  instances 
but  that  I  thought  that  all  classes  did  their  part  well  in  Mexico.  I 
mention  these  circumstances  because  a  report  was  put  into  circulation 
here  a  few  days  afterwards,  that  I  had  advocuted  abolition  doctrine'', 
that  I  had  made  a  speech  to  the  poor  classes  of  citizens  to  inflame 
them  against  the  rich,  etc.  As  soon  as  I  heard  of  this  report  I 
straightened  it  out  as  well  as  I  could,  and  had  it  contradicted.  Gov. 
Manly  seems  to  have  heard  something  of  the  kind,  and  perhaps  others 
in  Raleigh.  Dr.  Jones  said  that  he  would  write  to  Gov.  M.  about  it, 
and  I  asked  him  to  say,  that  if  his  (Dr.  J.'s)  statement  were  not 
sufficient  I  would  write  Gov.  M.  a  letter  which  he  could  use  as  he 
thought  proper.  After  this  the  whole  subject  seemed  to  have  been 
forgotten,  until  about  three  weeks  ago  when  the  Standard's  first 
editorial  on  the  subject  appeared,  and  even  that  was  little  noticed, 
although  I  heard  a  student  remark  that  it  was  directed  at  me.  I 
had  supposed  it  would  go  no  farther  until  a  week  ago,  the  statement 
signed  "An  Alumnus"  appealed.  From  the  spirit  manifested  in  that 
article  I  thought  the  Staudat  d  was  bent  on  agitation,  and  as  rumor 
would  be  busy  with  her  thousand  tongues,  it  would  be  better,  and  more 
honest  to  come  out  openly  and  avow  my  sentiments.  That  would  at 
least  prevent  misrepresentation,  and  as  I  gave  the  reasons  for  my 
opinions,  the  reading  public  would  only  judge  of  their  soundness. 

I  have  not  at  any  time  endeavored  to  make  converts  to  my  doc- 
trines among  the  students.  Soon  after  the  election  I  spoke  to  two 
of  them  (Mr.  Cozart  find  Mr.  Mullens)  but  only  in  answer  to  the 
question  how  as  a  Southerner  I  could  oppose  the  extension  of  slavery 
into  Kansas.  There  had  been  no  excitement  in  College  in  relation  to 
the  matter  until  last  Saturday  night,  and  that  was  confined  to  a  very 
small  number  of  students.  For  about  an  hour  and  a  half  there  were 
a  good  many  students  in  the  Campus,  but  soon  after  eleven  o'clock 
they  dispersed  without  any  interference  on  the  part  of  the  Faculty. 
From  various  circumstances  it  is  suspected  that  the  preparations  for 


Benjamin  Sherwood  Hedrick.  21 

this  "spontaneous"  demonstration  were  sent  up  from  Raleigh. 

The  opinion  most  current  here  is  that  the  writer  of  the  article 
signed  "Alumnus"  is  Mr.  Engelhardt  of  Raleigh.  But  I  have  no  certain 
knowledge  that  he  was  the  writer.  At  present  the  usual  quiet  prevails 
in  College.  In  fact  only  a  small  part  of  the  students  have  seen  my 
article  as  there  are  but  few  copies  of  the  Semi-Weekly  Standard  taken 
here.  >■  *  f%  M 

I  have  no  means  of  knowing  in  what  light  this  matter  will  be 
viewed  by  the  Trustees.  But  as  it  is  an  important  one,  to  me  at  least, 
I  hope  they  will  give  it  a  careful  consideration  before  coming  to  a 
decision.  I  cannot  see  that  my  letter  to  the  Standard  involves  in  any 
way  the  opinions  of  other  members  of  the  Faculty,  at  least  it  should 
not. 

Very  respectfully  your  obedient  servant, 

B.  S.  Hedbick. 
His  Excellency  Thomas  Bragg, 

Gov.  of  State  of  North  Carolina,  Raleigh,  N.  C, 
President  of  the  Board  of  Trustees  of  the  University. 
The  matter  by  this  time  was  one  in  which  the  whole  state 
was  interested  and  demands  for  Mr.  Hedrick 's  resignation  were 
general.     Typical  examples  of  these  follow: 

Resolutions* 

At  a  meeting  of  the  citizens  of  Murfreesborough,  N.  C,  on  Monday, 
the  6th  October,  the  following  preamble  and  resolutions  were  unani- 
mously adopted: 

Whereas,  We  believe  that  a  crisis  in  the  history  of  our  country  is 
upon  us,  when  it  becomes  the  imperative  duty  of  every  patriot  and 
friend  of  the  University  to  be  vigilant  and  watchful  for  the  preserva- 
tion of  its  integrity — and  when  we  believe  that  "expressions  favorable 
to  black  Republicanism  in  our  midst,  are  incompatible  with  our  honor 
and  our  safety  as  a  people,"  and 

Whereas,  Principles  and  opinions  subversive  of  and  inimical  to 
the  true  interests  of  our  rights  as  a  people  are  known  to  be  entertained 
by  Hedrick,  a  Professor  in  the  University  of  North  Carolina,  and 

Whereas,  The  said  Hedrick  has  sought  to  give  notoriety  to  the 
same,  by  a  letter  written  by  him,  and  published  through  the  press, 
and  believing,  as  we  do,  that  such  sentiments  are  deserving  of  the 
sternest  rebuke  and  should  meet  with  the  honest  indignation  of  every 
Union  loving  man,  therefore,  be  it  unanimously. 

Resolved,  That  we,  as  citizens  of  Hertford  county,  in  N.  C,  having 
sons  for  education  at  the  University,  feeling  a  deep  interest  in  all  that 
pertains  to  its  welfare,  feel  it  to  be  our  imperative  duty  to  express 
our  opinions  in  regard  to  the  course  of  the  said  Hedrick  and  of 
promptly   denouncing  the   same. 

Resolved,  2nd,  That  we  believe  that  our  safety  requires  that  any  one 
who  is  living  in  our  midst,  and  known  to  entertain  opinions  and  prin- 
ciples dangerous  to  our  institutions,  should  be  held  up  to  the  scorn 
and  indignation  of  all  parties  and  friends  of  the  Union. 

•Standard,     October     11,     1856. 


22  James  Sprunt  Historical  Monograph. 

Resolved,    3rd,    That    the    foregoing    preamble    and    resolutions    be 
published   in   the   "Murfreesborough   Gazette,"    and   the   "North   Caro- 
lina Standard"  and  'Raleigh  Signal"  be  requested  to  copy  the  same. 
Mr.  Hedrick  of  the  University. 

To   the   Editors   of   the   Standard: 

Gentlemen: — I  read  with  astonishment  and  regret,  in  your  paper 
of  Saturday  last,  what  was  called  "Prof.  Hedrick's  Defence."  Aston- 
ishment and  regret  that  a  man  who  calls  himself  a  Professor  of  the 
University,  should  so  undervalue  the  reputation  and  interest  of  that 
institution  as  to  advertise  himself  the  advocate  of  the  sentiments  he 
avows,  filling  the  station  he  does.  These  sentiments,  avowed  by  one 
of  the  professors,  will  sink  the  institution— now  grown  to  giant 
size,  and  still  increasing — unless  the  Trustees  forthwith  expel  that 
traitor  to  all  Southern  interests  from  the  seat  he  now  so  unworthily 
fills.  He  should  be  ordered  away  as  a  foul  stain  upon  the  escutcheon 
of  the  University,  to  show  to  the  country  that  the  institution  is 
a  sanctuary  from  such  vile  pollutions.  It  is  the  business  of  the 
Executive  Committee  to  act  in  his  case,  and  to  act  promptly;  and 
from  the  high  character  of  the  gentlemen  who  compose  it,  a  good 
result  may  be  expected.  If  this  man  must  prattle  treason,  let  him 
do  it  ineffectually,  not  as  the  agent  of  the  Trustees,  as  he  now   is. 

The  Trustees  of  the  University  consist  of  sixty  gentlemen,  dis- 
persed all  over  the  State;  and  they  are  thus  dispersed  that  they  may 
have  a  wider  range  in  advancing  its  interests.  They  have  been 
selected  by  the  General  Assembly  to  manage  the  affairs  of  that  institu- 
tion, out  of  regard  for  their  own  high  characters  for  learning,  probity, 
and  sound  discretion;  and  the  history  of  the  University  abundantly 
testifies  to  their  success.  And  the  Executive  Committee  have  full 
power  to  transact  all  business  of  the  Board  of  Trustees  in  their 
absence  or  recess.  Be  it  said,  however,  as  due  to  truth,  and  to  the 
great  credit  of  the  Trustees,  they  have  raised  that  institution  from 
a  poor  estate  to  a  high  position;  they  have  witnessed,  under  their 
superintending  and  anxious  care,  the  education  of  some  of  the 
greatest  men  in  the  nation;  and  they  see  daily  its  benefits  increasing, 
until  it  has  become  the  great  literary  institution  of  the  South,  number- 
ing upwards  of  four  hundred  students,  sent  by  their  friends  to  the 
guardianship  of  the  Trustees  and  faculty.  It  is  not,  therefore,  to 
be  expected  that  the  Trustees  will  fail  to  do  their  duty. 

My  name,  if  desired,  will  be  given  to  Mr.  Hedrick,  who  I  do  not 
dignify  with  the  appellation  of  Professor,  and  who  as  a  Trustee  1 
repudiate,  in  the  beginning  of  the  great  harm  he  has  set  out  ungrate- 
fully to  do  that  institution — his  Alma  Mater. 

A  Trustee  of  the  University. 
The  Executive  Committee  met  again   on   October  11.     The 
following  is  the  record  of  the  meeting: 

The  Executive  Committee  met.  Present:  His  Excellency,  Gov. 
Gov.  Bragg.1  President;  J.  H.  Bryan, 2  D.  W.  Courts.  3  C.  L.  Hinton,-"  Ej. 
F.  Moore,5   R.  M.  Saunders/' 

1.     Thomas     Bragg     was     born     in     1810     and     educated     in     Middletown, 
Conn.      He    practiced    law    with    great    success    in    North    Carolina    and    was 


Benjamin  Sherwood  Hedrick.  23 

The  President  laid  before  the  Committee  a  political  essay  of  Prof. 
B.  S.  Hedrick,  published  in  the  North  Carolina  Standard  of  the  4th 
instant  together  with  sundry  letters  and  papers  relating  thereto, 
whereupon. 

Resolned,  That  the  Executive  Committee  have  seen  with  great 
regret  the  publication  of  Prof.  Hedrick  in  the  Standard  of  the  4th 
inst.,  because  it  violates  the  established  usage  of  the  University  which 
forbids  any  Professor  to  become  an  agitator  in  the  exciting  politics 
of  the  day;  and  is  well  calculated  to  injure  the  prosperity  and  use- 
fulness of  the  Institution. 

Resolved,  That  the  prompt  action  of  a  majority  of  the  Faculty 
of  the  University  on  the  6th  inst.,  meets  with  the  cordial  approbation 
of  this  Committee. 

Resolved,  That  in  the  opinion  of  this  Committee  Mr.  Hedrick  has 
greatly,  if  not  entirely  destroyed  his  power  to  be  of  further  benefit 
to  the  University  in  the  Office  which  he  now  fills. 

Committee  adjourned. 

also  a  member  of  the  legislature  for  a  number  of  terms.  In  1854  he  was 
elected  governor  and  was  re-elected  in  1S56.  At  the  expiration  of  his 
term  he  was  elected  to  the  United  States  Senate  where  he  served  until 
the  outbreak  of  the  civil  war.  Me  was  Attorney  General  of  the  Con- 
federacy for  a  short  time,  resigning  to  return  to  the  State.  He  died 
in    1872. 

2.  John  H.  Bryan  was  a  prominent  lawyer  who  had  served  in  the 
legislature   and    had    been   a    member    of    Congress   for    several    terms. 

3.  Daniel  W.  Courts  was  a  native  of  Virginia  who  was  educated 
at  the  University  of  North  Carolina,  graduating  in  1823.  He  had  been 
a  member  of  both  houses  of  the  State  legislature,  Consul  to  Matanzas, 
and  was  at  this  time  State  Treasurer.  This  office  he  had  filled  from 
1830    to    1839,    was    re-elected    in    1850    and    served    until    1862. 

4.  Charles  L.  Hinton  graduated  at  the  University  of  North  Carolina 
in  1814.  He  served  in  both  houses  of  the  State  Legislature  and  was 
State  Treasurer  from  1839  to  1850.  He  had  also  been  secretary  to 
the    Board    of    Trustees    of    the    University    from    1847    to    1851.  . 

5.  Bartholomew  Figures  Moore  was  born  in  1801  and  graduated  from 
the  University  of  North  Carolina  in  1820.  He  had  served  frequently 
in  the  State  Legislature  and  had  been  Attorney  General  of  the  State. 
He  was  one  of  the  ablest  members  of  the  bar  of  the  State  and  was  of 
eminent  character.  He  was  one  of  the  commissioners  to  revise  the 
statute  laws  of  the  State.  In  1S61  he  was  opposed  to  secession  and 
remained  so  throughout  the  war.  He  was  the  leading  member  of  the 
convention  of  1865-1866  and  was  one  of  the  commission  appointed  to 
revise  the  statutes  in  regard  to  persons  of  color.  This  was  done  with  a 
full   recognition   of   the   citizenship    of   the    freedmen.      He   died   in   1878. 

6.  Romulus  M.  Saunders  was  born  in  1791.  He  was  a  student  at  the 
University  for  two  years  when  he  was  expelled.  He  studied  law  under 
Hugh  L.  White  of  Tennessee  and  was  admitted  to  the  bar  in  that  State. 
Returning  to  North  Carolina  he  entered  political  life  and  was  many  times 
a  member  of  the  Legislature  and  was  twice  speaker  of  the  House  of  Com- 
mons. He  served  in  Congress  from  1821  to  1827  and  from  1841  to  1845. 
In  1828  he  was  elected  Attorney  General,  in  1833  United  States  Commis- 
sioner on  the  French  Spoilation  Claims,  in  1835  Judge  of  the  Superior 
Courts,  and  in  1840  was  the  Democratic  candidate  for  governor  but  was 
defeated.  From  1846  to  1850  he  was  minister  to  Spain  but  resigned  and 
returning  to  the  State  was  elected  to  the  House  in  1850  and  was  by  that 
legislature  elected  a  Superior  Court  Judge,  which  position  he  filled  until 
his  death  in  1867.  He  was  a  man  of  intense  prejudices  in  whom  political 
considerations  were  always  of  highest  importance.  He  had  the  reputation 
In   the   State   of   being  a   candidate   for   every  vacant  office. 

These  resolutions  were  sent  to  the  University  to  be  laid  before 
the  Faculty  but  were  not  published. 

The  students  of  the  University  were  much  aroused  and  in 


24  James  Sprunt  Historical  Monograph. 

spite  of  the  popularity  which  Mr.  Hedrick  had  enjoyed  made 
constant  demonstrations  against  him.  If  no  action  had  been 
taken  elsewhere,  it  is  scarcely  to  be  doubted  that  they  would 
have  forced  his  resignition,  so  thoroughly  were  they  excited. 

The  Northern  press  naturally  did  not  allow  so  striking  an 
incident  to  escape  them.  The  following  are  examples  of  editorial 
comment : 

Editorial  in  N.  Y.  Times,  Tuesday.  October  14,  1856. 

A  LIVE  REPUBLICAN  IN  NORTH  CAROLINA— The  most  remark- 
able letter  that  has  been  elicited  by  the  present  extraordinary  politi- 
cal struggle  is  that  of  Professor  Hedrick,  of  the  University  of  North 
Carolina,  which  will  be  found  elsewhere  in  our  columns  this  morn- 
ing. Professor  Kedrick  (sic)  is  a  native  of  the  State,  and  full  of 
affection  for  the  land  of  his  birth;  but  he  is  thoroughly  imbued 
with  Republican  sentiments,  boldly  avows  his  preference  for  Fre- 
mont, and  appeals  to  Washington,  Jefferson,  Clay,  and  the  honored 
fathers  of  the  Republic,  as  the  authors  of  the  faith  that  is  in  him. 
There  are  a  good  many  important  facts  in  his  letter,  which  will  be 
read  with  profit  at  the  North,  as  well  as  in  the  South.  We  have  no 
doubt  of  there  being  thousands  of  similar  men  in  the  Southern 
states,  who  only  lack  an  opportunity  to  proclaim  their  sentiments  as 
boldly  as  this  noble-minded  patriot  scholar  has  done,  and  his  cour- 
ageous example  will  not  lack  for  followers.  It  is  more  than  probable 
that  the  bold  avowal  of  Republican  sentiments  by  Professor  Kedrick 
{sic)  will  cost  him  his  professional  chair  in  the  University  of  North 
Carolina;  and  yet  it  seems  scarcely  credible  that  the  Old  North  State 
will  banish  one  of  her  own  sons  for  avowing  himself  a  disciple  of 
Washington  and  Jefferson. 

The  letter  of  Professor  Hedrick  in  the  Times  is  introduced    by 

the  following  paragraph : 

Prof.  B.  S.  Hedrick  of  the  State  University  of  North  Carolina, 
has  pronounced  in  favor  of  Fremont,  and  in  consequence  of  that  act 
has  raised  up  bitter  enemies,  who  denounce  himself  fiercely,  and  go 
so  far  as  to  demand  his  expulsion  from  the  College,  on  the  ground 
that  his  opinions  render  him  unfit  to  be  an  instructor  of  youth.  The 
Raleigh  Standard  (Buchanan)  publishes  a  letter  from  the  Professor, 
which  is  styled  a  "Defence"  against  certain  articles  in  that  paper 
over  the  signature  of  "Alumnus."  The  letter  gives  a  new  view 
of  the  practical  workings  of  Slavery.  It  is  introduced  by  the  Stand- 
ard in  the  following  manner:  *  *  *  [Here  follows  the.  Defence.] 
Editorial  in  Tribune  of  Tuesday,  October  14,  1856. 

Notwithstanding  the  depotic  rule  of  Jacobinical  terrorism  which 
Just  now  holds  fourteen  states  of  this  Union  in  the  most  abject  servi- 
tude, it  is  not  to  be  supposed  that  the  fire  of  Liberty  is  entirely  shut 
out  at  the  South,  or  that  the  self-constituted  thirty  tyrants — be  the 
number  more  or  less — by  which  each  one  of  those  unhappy  states 
Is  now  governed,  can  long  maintain  their  usurped  authority.  It 
ia  not  credible  that  Washington,  Henry,  Jefferson,  Madison,  and  the 
other  patriots  of  the  Revolution,  can  have  left  no  descendants  behind 


Benjamin  Sherwood  Hedrick.  25 

them.  We  speak  not  now  of  inheritors  of  their  blood,  but  of  inheri- 
tors of  their  sentiments,  their  ardent  love  of  Liberty  for  others  as 
well  as  for  themselves,  and  their  sincere  faith  in  the  rights  of  man. 
Though  silenced  for  the  moment  by  the  furious  and  bloodthirsty 
clamor  for  the  perpetuation  and  extension  of  Slavery,  and  for  the 
dissolution  of  the  Union  as  a  meaus  to  promote  those  ends — a  means 
as  hateful  as  the  ends  to  which  it  is  to  serve  are  detestable — it  is 
impossible  that  there  should  not  be  at  the  South  a  strong  cohort 
of  those  who  do  not  bow  the  knee  to  the  Baal  of  Slavery,  and  who 
are  wistfully  watching  for  the  restoration  of  the  true  and  ancient 
worship  of  their  fathers. 

We  in  the  North  had,  twenty  years  ago,  a  considerable  dash  of 
the  same  storm  of  insolent  violence  which  comes  down  now  with 
such  tropical  fury  through  the  South — so  heavy  that  scarce  a  friend 
of  Freedom  and  Emancipation  dares  anywhere  to  show  his  head. 
We  too  had  our  mobs  and  self-constituted  committees,  which  assailed 
the  liberty  of  press  and  of  speech,  and  which  threatened  and  some- 
times visited  with  personal  violence  those  who  ventured  to  avow 
opinions  on  the  subject  of  Slavery  not  deemed  orthodox.  That  at- 
tempt to  suppress  the  freedom  of  opinion,  though  backed  up  by  per- 
sons occupying  the  highest  social  and  political  positions — such  as 
Edward  Everett,  for  example,  who,  as  Governor  of  Massachusetts, 
recommended  legislative  enactments  to  sustain  it — proved  a  total 
failure;  and  many  who  at  that  time  sympathized  and  even  parti- 
cipated in  it  are  now  among  the  most  strenuous  opponents  of  any 
further  concessions  to  the  Slave  Power. 

It  is  true  that  this  attempted  usurpation  never  reached,  here  at 
the  North,  anything  like  the  hight  (sic)  of  violence  to  which  it  has 
lately  been  carried  in  the  Slave  States.  We  have  no  recollection  of 
any  attempt  ever  made  here  to  prevent  the  nomination  and  support 
of  a  Presidential  ticket.  In  the  midst  of  all  the  excitement  of  the 
Harrison  campaign,  the  Liberty  party,  so  called,  was  permitted  freely 
to  nominate  and  support  a  ticket  of  their  own;  and  so  afterward,  in 
the  great  struggle  between  Clay  and  Polk,  on  which  occasion  the  few 
thousand  votes  in  this  State  drawn  off  from  Clay  by  the  Abolitionists 
gave  New  York  to  the  Democratic  party  and  secured  the  election  of 
Polk.  But  if  the  friends  of  free  political  action  in  the  South  have  a 
greater  ferocity  on  the  part  of  their  opponents  to  encounter,  so  they 
must  be  supposed  to  have  a  much  greater  strength  in  themselves, 
both  in  regard  to  numbers  and  social  position,  than  ever  was  the  case 
with  those  here  at  the  North  who  were  made  the  objects  of  a  similar 
violence.  And  they  have,  beside,  another  great  advantage,  in  a 
powerful  outside  support.  With  the  whole  power  of  the  Federal 
Government  to  sustain  them  in  the  vindication  and  exercise  of  their 
rights,  in  addition  to  the  sympathy  of  the  entire  North,  it  is  evident 
that  they  occupy  an  impregnable  position;  and  the  greater  and  more 
savage  and  depotic  the  violence  which  is  now  brought  to  bear  upon 
them,  the  more  speedy  and  decisive  the  reaction  may  be  expected  to 
be.  He  who  contrasts  the  present  political  position  of  the  North 
on  the  subject  of  Slavery  with  what  it  was  twenty  years  ago,  may  find 
reasonable  ground  for  anticipating  that  before  many  years  Maryland, 
Virginia,  Kentucky,  North  Carolina  and  other  slave-holding  states 
will  revert  again  to  the  views  of  Washington  and  Jefferson,  and  instead 


26  James  Sprunt  Historical  Monograph. 

of  throwing  their  whole  political  weight  in  favor  of  the  extension  of 
slavery  into  new  Territories  from  which  it  has  once  been  formally 
and  solemnly  excluded,  will  rather  be  inviting  the  aid  and  co-opera- 
tion of  the  North,  in  some  scheme  by  which,  with  due  regard  to  the 
rights  and  interests  of  all  parties,  those  states,  instead  of  giving  new 
extension  to  this  curse,  may  be  able  to  rid  themselves  of  it. 

That  such  ideas  are  not  yet  totally  extinct  at  the  South,  that  the 
crows  have  not  yet  succeeded  in  devouring  all  the  good  seed  sown 
by  the  patriots  of  the  Revolution,  nor  the  great  enemy  of  mankind 
in  sowing  tares  enough  entirely  to  choke  out  the  wheat,  is  evident 
from  a  letter  which  we  publish  today,  in  which  one  of  the  professors 
of  the  University  of  North  Carolina  at  Chapel  Hill  responds  to  an 
attack  upon  him  by  a  Buchanan  journal  of  that  State  as  a  Black  Repub- 
lican. If  very  few  persons  at  the  South  have  at  this  moment  the  in- 
trepidity to  confess,  as  Professor  Hedrick  does,  their  views  on  the 
subject  of  Slavery,  it  cannot  be  doubted  that  a  large  part  of  the  best 
educated,  most  intelligent  and  most  patriotic  even  of  the  slaveholders 
themselves  fully  sympathize  with  those  views — a  body  of  men  to 
whom,  in  spite  of  the  storm  of  Pro-Slavery  fanaticism  which  now 
sweeps  over  the  slaveholding  states,  we  may  look  with  hope  for  the 
return  of  those  states  to  a  better  condition  of  intelligence  and  feeling, 
and  for  their  ultimate  deliverance  from  that  terrible  nightmare  which 
hold  them  now  in  such  a  state  at  once  of  convulsive  terror  and 
paralytic  helplessness. 

The  following  correspondence  is  self-explanatory: 
David  L.  Swain  to  Charles  Manly. 

Chapel  Hill,  7  Oct.,  1856. 

My  dear  Sir: — Your  note  of  the  4th  by  some  oversight  at  the  post- 
offlee  did  not  reach  me  until  yesterday  morning  and  this  morning 
brought  me  that  of  the  6th  with  Judge  Saunders  letter  enclosed. 

Hedrick  has  the  courage  ot  a  lion  and  the  obstinacy  of  a  mule. 
He  can  neither  be  frightened,  coaxed  nor  persuaded  in  anything. 
He  rarely  asks  advice  and  never  follows  it.  He  consulted  me  as 
to  the  propriety  of  replying  to  Alumnus,  and  entered  into  the  contest 
in  opposition  to  the  most  earnest  remonstrances.  He  communicated 
his  determination  to  reply  and  exhibited  his  reply  itself  to  no  one  but 
his  wife.  He  will  sit  in  his  tracks  without  moving  a  muscle,  and  I  am 
not  stire  he  does  not  covet  the  crown  of  martyrdom.  Has  the  Execu- 
tive Committee  the  power  of  demotion?  It  has,  if  it  can  be  conferred 
by  ordinance.  But  can  the  Board  delegate  the  power  of  appointment 
and  removal  to  a  committee?  If  it  can,  is  decapitation  expedient? 
"If  twere  well  when  done,  twere  well,  twere  done  quickly."  As  the 
call  was  not  taken  at  the  first  hop,  will  it  not  be  better,  to  bring 
the  resolutions  of  the  Faculty  to  bear  upon  him  at  the  present,  and 
postpone  the  exercise  of  supreme  authority,  until  the  election  ia  over, 
and  the  Board  in  session? 

If  you  award  the  crown  of  martyrdom,  immediately,  and  Col. 
Fremont  succeeds  in  the  election,  you  make  his  fortune.  He  under- 
stands this  too  well  to  think  for  a  moment  of  resignation.  Sparing 
him  at  present  will  give  the  Freesoilers  new  strength  at  the  South, 
while  the   charge  of  persecutions   for  opinion's  sake,  will  add  to  the 


Benjamin  Sherwood  Hedrick  27 

tempest  of  excitement  which  is  sweeping  over  the  North.  If  you 
proceed  to  extremes,  at  once,  I  would  avoid  a  political  issue,  and 
second  the  action  taken  by  the  Faculty,  and  approved  by  the  Trustees, 
in  the  Arch-Bishop  case — a  violation  of  the  usages  of  the  institution, 
not  as  a  freesoiler,  but  as  a  partizan. 

The  accompanying  correspondence,  you  may  show  to  Judge  Saun- 
ders, to  remind  him  of  my  arraignment  before  the  Board  of  Trustees, 
l>y  our  friend,  John  1).  Hawkins,  twenty  years  ago,  i'or  permitting  the 
late  Perrin  Busbee  to  advocate  a  dissolution  of  the  Union  on  the 
public  stage.  In  the  mutation  of  parties,  no  one  knows  when  and 
what  issues  may  arise,  and  freedom  of  speech  on  religious  and 
political  matters,  must  be  restrained,  if  restrained  at  all,  very  skil- 
fully. 

The  boys  exhibited  transparencies,  hung  and  burnt  in  effigy  Sat- 
urday night  and  again  last  night,  but  the  affair  was  neither  very 
noisy  nor  tempestuous,  and  the  Faculty  gave  themselves  no  great 
trouble  about  it.  Unless  excited  by  foreign  influences,  I  do  not 
apprehend  serious  commotion. 

Herrinsee  was,  as  I  remember,  permitted  by  the  Secretary  to  append 
some  remarks  to  his  reason.  He  is  a  great"  admirer  of  Hedrick,  and 
has  I  fear  written  something  foolish  or  worse.  If  so,  and  you  publish, 
as  the  appendage  ought  not  to  be  read,  strike  it  out,  and  suffer  him 
to  illuminate  the  benighted  world  in  a  separate  article.  If  you 
think  proper  to  do  so,  you  may  publish  a  history  of  the  proceedings 
of  the  Faculty,  in  such  a  manner  as  you  think  most  advisable  without 
confining  yourself  to  the  record. 

Let  me  know  from  day  to  day  any  thing  that  may  be  necessary  to 
enlightened  voters. 

Yours  sincerely, 

D.  L.   Swain. 
David  L.  Swain  to  Charles  Manly. 

Chapel  Hill,  7  Oct.,  1856. 

My  Dear  Sir:  — 

If  there  were  not  much  better  lawyers  members  of  the  Executive 
Committee  than  I  am,  I  might  be  tempted  to  enter  upon  an  analysis 
of  the  Charter  and  subsequent  acts  of  the  General  Assembly  in  re- 
lation to  the  University  and  endeavor  to  show  that  the  Committee 
has  no  power  to  remove  a  Professor.  As  it  is,  upon  the  presump- 
tion that  "the  sparrow  may  perceive  what  the  eagle  overlooks,"  I 
may  be  pardoned  for  a  few  observations  and  inquiries. 

The  Executive  Committee  exists  under  an  ordinance  of  the  Trus- 
tees adopted  2nd  January,  1858,  consists  of  seven  members  of  whom 
the  Governor  is  one  ex-officio,  but  not  necessarily  Chairman.  I  was 
President  of  the  Board  when  the  Committee  first  organized  and  de- 
clined the  chair  because  I  considered  it  incongruous  for  the  Chair- 
man of  the  Committee  to  rise  at  the  annual  meeting  to  present  the 
report  of  the  Committee  to  himself  as  President  of  the  Board.  Judge 
Cameron  was  the  first  Chairman  and  was  succeeded  by  Gov.  Dudley. 
The  Executive  Committee  is  a  committee  of  seven  clothed  with  exten- 
sive powers,  but  it  is  a  committee  simply,  and  not  the  Board  of  Trustees. 


28  James  Sprunt  Historical  Monograph 

What  are  the  powers  of  the  Board  in  the  Premises?  By  the  3rd 
section  of  the  Charter  (U.  R.  V.  426)  the  Trustees  at  a  special  meeting 
may  "do  any  business  except  the  appointment  of  a  president,  profes- 
sor, etc. 

The  7th  section  provides  "that  the  Trustees  shall  have  the  power 
of  appointing  a  president  of  the  University  and  such  professors  and 
tutors  as  to  them  shall  appear  necessary  and  proper,  whom  they  may 
remove  for  misbehaviour,  inability,  or  neglect  of  duty."  By  the  act 
of  1807  of  4ol,  it  is  competent  lor  seven  Trustees  to  hold  an  annual 
meeting  and  appoint  "a  president  pro-tempore,  in  case  of  the  death, 
resignation,   absence,  or  indisposition  of  the  Governor." 

The  Board  then  at  an  annual  meeting  may  appoint  a  professor,  and 
the  Board  may  remove  him  "for  misbehaviour,  inability,  or  neglect 
of  duty." 

Ordinarily  the  power  of  appointment  and  demotion  are  the  same. 
The  power  of  the  President  to  remove  an  officer  appointed  by  and  with 
the  consent  of  the  Senate  without  the  consent  of  the  Senate,  if  it 
were  res  integrae,  would  be  more  than  questionable. 

The  General  Assembly  has  given  no  power  of  demotion  to  the 
Committee,  but  to  a  Board  of  Trustees  particularly  constituted  and 
authorized  to  punish  for  specific  causes,  or  set  aside  for  inability. 

If  the  Executive  Committee  have  the  power,  they  may  dismiss 
"any  professor  or  tutor  for  such  cause  as  they  deem  sufficient"  though 
he  may  have  been  appointed  but  ten  days  before  at  an  annual  meet- 
ing by  the  unanimous  vote  of  a  full  Board  of  Trustees  (65)  and 
though  but  four  members  of  the  committee,  may  be  in  attendance, 
of  whom  the  Governor  need  not  be  one.  Can  it  be  that  the  power 
is  legitimately  vested  in  these  persons? 

If  the  power  is  regarded  as  unquestionable,  it  seems  to  me  the 
exercise  of  it  may  be  forborne  for  many  reasons  when  an  annual  meet- 
ing of  the  Board  is  so  near  at  hand. 

The  occasion  does  not  include  the  President  of  the  University  and  as 
a  Trustee,  I  may  discuss  this  in  common  with  all  the  questions  in 
relation  to  the  general  concern  of  the  institution  with  the  same  freedom 
as  other  members  of  the  Board.  I  am  moreover  willing  to  be  tried 
before  the  Executive  Committee  and  will  not  plead  to  the  jurisdic- 
tion of  any  tribunal  organized  under  their  auspices.  I  think  more- 
over that  it  is  exceedingly  desirable  that  a  committee  should  come 
up,  examine  the  records  and  look  narrowly  into  my  department.  1 
am  satisfied  that  such  an  investigation  will  be  of  great  benefit,  and 
especially  tend  to  strengthen  my  hands. 

I  have  just  received  your  kind  note  of  yesterday  and  again  tender 
my  thanks  for  your  repeated  acts  of  kindness  which  I  hope  never 
to  be  able  to  repay  because  I  hope  it  will  never  be  your  fortune  to 
encounter  such  an  ingrate.  If  it  shall,  I  will  be  with  you  to  the 
death.  Dr.  Mitchell  has  not  yet  returned.  The  New  York  Times  pub- 
lished Hedrick's  defence  in  extenao  and  pronounces  it  the  most  extra- 
ordinary letter  that  this  excited  contest  has  called  forth  and  well 
calculated  to  interest  and  instruct,  both  at  the  North  and  the  South. 
The  Tribune  of  the  same  date  (Tuesday)  also  contains  it,  with  half 
a  column  of  commentary. 

A  professor  must  be  removed  not  arbitarily  or  capriciously  for 
mere   difference   of   opinion,   in   religion   or   politics,   which   the  Com- 


Benjamin  Sherwood  Hedrick  29 

mittee  may  deem  sufficient,  but  for  "misbehaviour,  inability,  or  neglect 
of  duty."  Hedrick  may  be  very  properly  arraigned  for  misbehaviour 
in  departing  from  our  established  usages,  and  this  should  be  the 
only  count  in  the  impeachment. 

Yours  very  sincerely, 

D.  L.  Swain. 
Gov.  Manly.  \ 

B.  S.  Hedrick  to  Charles  Manly. 

Chapel   Hill,   Oct.    S,    1856. 

Gov.  Manly: 

Dear  Sir: — I  wrote  to  Gov.  Bragg  day  before  yesterday.  Mentioned 
to  him  a  conversation  which  I  had  with  Dr.  Jones  of  this  place  a  short 
time  after  you  were  here.  Dr.  Jones  had  stated  to  another  friend  of 
mine  that  a  report  was  in  circulation  which  would  injure  me.  I 
therefore  called  to  see  him  about  it.  I  found  that  the  report  alluded 
to  was  a  very  exaggerated  statement  of  what  I  had  said  at  a  certain 
time.  I  frankly  told  Dr.  Jones  what  my  views  of  the  subject  in  ques- 
tion were,  and  contracted*  what  had  given  offence  to  some  of  my 
neighbors.  I  also  learned  from  Dr.  Jones  that  you  had  heard  the  same 
report  which  had  attracted  his  attention.  Dr.  Jones  said  that  he 
intended  to  write  to  you  in  a  few  days,  and  that  he  would  mention 
the  matter  to  you.  I  also  asked  him  to  say  to  you  if  what  he  (Dr. 
Jones)  had  said  were  not  sufficient,  I  would  write  you  a  letter  which 
you  might  use  as  you  thought  proper. 

I  supposed  that  Dr.  Jones  had  written,  until  yesterday,  when  I 
met  him  and  asked  him  about  it.  He  said  the  matter  had  slipped 
his  memory  at  the  time,  and  that  afterward  the  whole  subject  seemed 
to  have  been  forgotten  and  it  never  occurred  to  him  again.  He  said 
however  that  he  remembered  perfectly  well  what  I  said  to  him  about 
It.  So  that  if  Gov.  Bragg  mentions  this  part  of  my  letter  to  you,  if 
you  think  necessary,  please  give  the  explanation  above. 

I  have  written  this  for  fear  a  misapprehension  might  arise. 
Yours   respectfully    and    ti'uly, 

B.  S.  Hedbick. 
*Contradicted? 

Charles  Manly  to  David  Lowrie  Swain. 

Raleigh,  Oct.  8,  1856. 

My  dear  Governor: 

I  received  yesterday  your  note  and  a  copy  of  the  Faculty's  proceed- 
ings in  relation  to  Prof.  Hedrick.  Upon  consultation  with  Gov. 
Bragg  and  Messrs.  Courts  and  Bryan,  all  that  relating  to  Bishop 
Hughes  was  expunged  and  the  residue  sent  to  the  Standard  for  pub- 
lication. 

The  Governor  also  handed  me  a  letter  which  he  had  received  from 
Hedrick  in  explanation  and  exculpation  of  himself  and  letting  him 
know  that  he  was  a  good  Democrat  and  had  voted  the  Democratic 
ticket  in  August  last. 


30  James  Sprunt  Historical  Monograph 

Your  suggestions  are  good  and  were  approved  by  those  gentlemen 
above  named.  Nothing  will  be  done  with  him  till  after  the  election. 
If  he  does  not  resign  the  Board  will  take  him  up  next  winter  and 
cut  his  head  "clean  off"  but  so  as  not  to  suffer  the  blood  of  martyrdom 
for  opinion's  sake  to  decorate  and  adorn  his  garments. 

He  will  be  driven  off  as  unworthy  to  hold  an  office  in  an  institu- 
tion whose  usages  and  practices  he  has  so  grossly  and  injuriously 
violated. 

The  Executive  Committee  will  meet  again  on  Saturday  next 
(11th)  by  which  time  I  shall  hope  to  have  the  Faculty's  answer  to 
the  "Red  Republican"  and  the  copy  of  the  Journal  which  he  complains 
of.  I  am,  Dear  Sir, 

Very  truly  yours, 

Chas.  Manly. 

Dr.  Wheat  has  withdrawn  his  notice  of  resignation,  but  I  suppose 
you  know  that,  of  course. 

There  is  a  report  on  the  street  that  the  students  intend  to  tar  and 
feather  Hedrick.  I  hope  and  trust  they  will  do  no  such  thing.  Their 
indignation  meetings,  burning  in  effigy,  etc.,  is  a  sufficient  demonstra- 
tion. It  would  be  dishonorable  and  cowardly  to  do  him  personal  vio- 
lence. It  would  be  undignified  and  disgraceful  to  get  up  a  College 
row  and  tumult.  They  would  thereby  injure  themselves  and  no  one 
else. 

Mr.  Hedrick,  as  has  been  seen  from  his  "Defence",  was  not 
the  sort  of  man  to  allow  matters  to  drift  without  an  effort  to 
save  himself.  The  following  able  letter  shows  clearly  his  point 
of  view  and  its  soundness: 

B.  S.  Hedrick  to  Charles  Manly. 

Chapel    Hill,    Oct.    14,    1856. 

Dear  Sir: 

I  am  glad  that  the  Executive  Committee  did  not  yield  to  a  popu- 
lar clamor  and  remove  me  from  my  station  here.  For  I  believe  that 
if  I  can  have  a  full  and  fair  hearing  before  the  Trustees,  the  answer 
implied  in  the  resolutions  which  you  passed  will  be  found  to  be  more 
than  my  offence  merited,  though  as  matters  now  stand  it  was  as 
little  as  I  could  expect. 

No  one  more  than  myself  acknowledges  the  justness  and  propriety 
of  the  usage  which  prohibits  members  of  the  faculty  from  agitating 
topics  relating  to  party  politics.  But  there  are  times  when  it  seems 
the  usage  may  be  disregarded.  In  fact  about  eight  years  ago  one  of 
the  ablest  and  most  learned  professors  in  the  University  thought  it 
incumbent  upon  himself  to  define  his  position  upon  the  slavery  ques- 
tion. But  the  principal  circumstances  which  I  would  plead  in  extenua- 
tion of  this  breach  of  well  known  usage  is  the  manner  in  which  I 
was  attacked.  If  members  of  the  Faculty  have  their  hands  tied  they 
should  be  shielded  from  assault.  I  am  a  citizen  of  the  State,  a  native 
if  there  is  any  merit  in  that,  and  have  always  endeavored  to  be  a 
faithful  law  abiding  member  of  the  community.     But  all  at  once  I  am 


Benjamin  Sherwood  Hedrick  31 

assailed  as  an  outlaw,  a  traitor,  as  a  person  fit  to  be  driven  from  the 
State  by  mob  violence,  one  whom  every  good  citizen  was  bound  to  cast 
out  by  fair  means  or  foul.  This  was  more  than  I  could  bear.  It  seemed 
to  me  that  I  ought  to  resent  it  as  a  tyrannical  interference  with  the 
rights  of  private  opinion.  So  that  in  judging  my  case,  it  will  be  neces- 
sary to  bear  in  mind  the  gross  insults  contained  in  "the  charges 
brought  against  me  in  the  Standard."  What  I  had  said  here  about 
voting  for  Fremont  amounted  to  almost  nothing,  as  no  one  expected 
an  attempt  to  form  an  electoral  ticket  would  be  made.  In  fact  I 
heard  an  influential  citizen  say  that  he  would  vote  for  Fremont  himself 
if  he  thought  that  the  electing  him  would  bring  about  a  dissolution 
of  the  Union,  whilst  I  would  vote  for  him  to  make  the  Union  stronger. 

But  the  state  of  the  case  which  comes  home  to  the  Trustees  more 
directly  than  any  other  is  the  influence  of  my  course  will  have  upon 
the  prosperity  of  the  University.  My  own  opinion  is  that  if  the  news- 
papers will  let  the  matter  rest  it  will  soon  be  forgotten.  The  election 
will  soon  be  over,  one  of  the  candidates  will  probably  be  elected,  and 
the  others  will  soon  cease  to  be  talked  of.  What  I  said  about  slavery 
is  neither  fanatical,  incendiary  nor  inflammatory.  I  have  never  held 
abolitionist  views.  If  my  reasons  for  keeping  the  increase  of  the 
slave  population  at  home  are  good,  of  course  no  one  will  blame  me  for 
setting  them  forth.  If  my  reasons  are  unsound  I  have  erred  in  a 
question  upon  which  there  has  always  been,  and  probably  always  will 
be,  an  honest  difference  of  opinion  among  thinking  men.  It  is  only 
a  short  time  since  I  saw  an  article  in  a  Virginia  paper  denouncing 
Professor  Bledsoe  of  the  University  of  Virginia,  because  he  admitted 
in  his  book  on  Liberty  and  Slavery,  that  the  interests  and  prosperity 
of  the  Territories  where  slavery  does  not  exist,  might  be  best  advanced 
by  excluding  it.  But  for  that  opinion  he  was  not  treated  as  an  outlaw, 
nor  any  attempt  made  to  drive  him  from  his  Chair. 

But  I  am  not  disposed  to  find  fault  with  the  action  of  the  Trustees. 
Some  of  the  newspapers  are  pretending  that  I  am  only  wishing  to  be 
dismissed  in  order  to  attain  to  profitable  martyrdom.  If  I  were  base 
enough  to  resort  to  such  a  miserable  trick  my  denying  the  charge 
would  go  for  nothing.  I  do  not  believe  however  that  any  such  charge 
will  be  made  by  anyone  at  all  acquainted  with  the  circumstances  which 
placed  me  in  my  present  position.  I  had  not  sought  the  election  from 
the  Trustees,  and  yet  the  appointment  was  most  acceptable  to  me. 
When  I  graduated  T  took  a  subordinate  position  in  one  of  the  Scien- 
tific offices  of  the  General  Government,  a  place  not  at  all  subject  to 
the  proscriptions  of  party.  My  services  were  so  far  acceptable  that  I 
was  promoted  at  the  end  of  the  first  year,  and  at  the  time  I  resigned 
my  position  my  salary  was  equal  to  that  offered  me  by  the  Trustees. 
It  was  against  the  advice  of  some  of  my  best  friends  that  I  made  the 
exchange.  I  have  always  acted  on  the  principle  that  a  good  citizen 
will  serve  his  native  State  in  preference  to  any  other.  And  I  thought 
the  situation  offered  me  by  the  Trustees  was  one  in  which  I  might 
find  honorable  and  useful  employment,  and  at  the  same  time  do  some- 
thing for  the  good  of  my  native  State.  Whether  my  labors  here  have 
been  successful  T  will  leave  for  others  to  determine.  In  coming  here 
T  sacrificed  all  other  prospects.  I  have  been  here  only  long  enough  to 
begin  to  take  root,  and  to  be  driven  out  now  when  I  have  just  fairly 
started  seems  hard.     But  I  will  not  ask  anything  unreasonable  from 


32  Jamev  Sprunt  Historical  Monograph 

the  Trustees.  It  is  well  known  that  my  chair  does  not  belong  to  the 
regular  Academic  course.  My  students  are,  first,  those  who  enter  for  a 
scientific  course.  Of  these  I  have  had  fourteen  during  the  present  ses- 
sion. Second,  the  regular  academic  students  are  during  the  Senior 
year  permitted  to  substitute  studies  in  my  department  for  the  regular 
course.  Forty-four  students  have  during  this  session  "elected"  studies 
in  my  department.  If  any  one  therefore  is  afraid  for  his  son  to  recite 
to  me,  he  has  but  to  say  that  he  wishes  for  him  to  take  the  "old  course" 
in  the  Senior  year. 

As  I  said  before,  I  believe  that  all  the  trouble  about  politics  will 
soon  pass  over.  If  it  does  not  and  it  is  apparent  that  my  usefulness 
is  lost  or  greatly  impaired  I  will  not  ask  to  be  retained  any  longer. 
The  "scientific  school"  is  a  venture  in  which  I  have  staked  a  great 
deal,  and  therefore  respectfully  ask  that  whatever  final  action  the 
Board  may  take  that  they  would  act  with  caution  and  deliberation. 
For  my  own  part  I  am  sorry  that  I  have  been  the  occasion  of  trouble 
to  the  Committee.  But  I  hope  that  when  they  come  to  know  me  better 
they  will  find  me  to  be  one  not  deserving  to  be  driven  from  the  State 
by  hue  and  cry. 

Very  respectfully, 

Your  obedient  servant, 

B.  S.  Hedrick. 
Hon.   Charles  Manly, 

Sec.  of  the  Board  of  Trustees 
of  the  University  of  N.  C. 
The  pressure  upon  the  Trustees  grew  from  day  to  day  and 

finally  became  so  great  that  <m  October  18,  the  Executive  Com- 
mittee met  again.     The  action  taken  by  them  was  in  excess  of 

their  legal  powers  as  can  be  seen  from  the  letter  of  President 
Swain  ((noted  above. 

The  following  is  the  record  of  the  meeting: 

Raleigh,    October    18,    1856. 

Executive  Committee  met.  Present:  His  Excellency,  Gov.  Bragg, 
Pres.;  John  H.  Bryan,  Dan.  W.  Courts,  Charles  L.  Hinton,  Bat.  F. 
Moore,  R.  M.   Saunders. 

Judge  Saunders  presented  the  following  resolutions  which  were  read 
and  adopted: 

Whereas,  Professor  B.  S.  Hedrick  seems  disposed  to  respect  neither 
the  opinions  of  the  Faculty  nor  the  Trustees  of  the  University  but  per- 
sists in  retaining  his  situation  to  the  manifest  injury  of  the  University. 

Resolved,  That  for  the  causes  set  forth  by  this  Committee  on  the 
11th  inst.,  he,  the  said  Benj.  S.  Hedrick,  be  and  is  hereby  dismissed 
as  a  Professor  in  the  University  and  the  Professorship  which  he  now 
fills  is  hereby  declared  to  be  vacant. 

Resolved,  That  he  be  paid  his  full  salary  to  the  close  of  the  present 
session. 

Resolved,  That  the  Secretary  notify  him  of  this  decision. 
******* 

Committee  adjourned. 


Benjamin  Sherwood  Hedrick  33 

The  result  was  communicated  to  President  Swain  by  Charles 
Manly  in  the  following  letter : 

Charles  Manly  to  David  Lowrie  Swain. 

Raleigh,    Oct.    18,    1856. 
My  dear  Governor: 

1  send  you  herewith  a  copy  of  Minutes  of  Executive  Committee  of 
this  day 
«  ****** 

As  to  Hedrick,  he  is  beheaded.  I  read  your  letter  to  the  Committee 
on  their  power  to  dismiss.  But  to  no  purpose.  The  "outside  pressure" 
was  too  great.  Sundry  letters  had  come  up  from  Trustees  (from  Col. 
Steele  among  others)  a  public  meeting  held  (I  think)  in  Murfreesboro 
and  the  Southern  press  all  demanding  his  instant  removal,  the  Com- 
mittee determined  to  take  the  responsibility.  Saunder's  Reson.  was  a 
long  and  violent  one,  mixed  up  with  politics;  we  finally  got  it  down  to 
what  it  is.  Moreover,  it  was  stated  that  certain  students  who  were 
here  during  the  Fair  declared  that  the  danger  of  a  College  riot  was 
imminent;  that  they  were  only  waiting  to  see  what  the  Executive  Com- 
mittee would  do;  and  if  they  passed  it  over  that  violence  and  blood- 
shed would  ensue.     I  placed  very  little  confidence  myself  in  this  story. 

Please  notify  Mr.  Hedrick  of  the  decision. 


Yours  truly, 


Chas.  Manlt. 


Hon.    D.    L.    Swain,    Chapel    Hill. 

The  Standard's  comment  was  as  follows: 

Mr.  Hedrick. — We  learn  that  at  a  meeting  of  the  Executive  Commit' 
tee  of  the  Board  of  Trustees  of  the  University  of  North  Carolina,  held 
on  Saturday  last,  it  was  resolved  that  Mr.  Hedrick  has  ceased  to  be 
useful  as  a  professor  in  the  University;  and  the  Secretary  was  directed 
to  inform  him  of  the  fact.  It  is  expected  that,  as  a  matter  of  course, 
he  will  at  once  resign.  Should  he  refuse  to  do  so,  however,  we  have 
do  doubt  he  will  be  removed. 

Mr.  Hedrick  Dismissed* 

We  learn  that  at  a  meeting  of  the  Executive  Committee  of  the 
Board  of  Trustees,  held  at  the  Governor's  office  on  Saturday  last,  Mr. 
Hedrick  was  unanimously  dismissed  from  his  place  as  a  professor  in 
the  University  of  this  State. 

We  make  this  announcement  with  much  gratification,  though  we  felt 
sure  from  the  fiist  that  such  would  be  the  action  of  the  Executive 
Committee. 

We  have  received  a  number  of  communications  on  the  subject,  and 
several  from  the  Trustees  of  the  University,  the  publication  of  which 
has   been   rendered   unnecessary  by  this  action  of  the  Committee. 

Mr.  Black  Republican  Hedrick  may  now  turn  for  consolation  and 
support  to  his  abolition  brethren  of  the  free  States.  His  whole  conduct 
in  this  matter  has  been  not  only  in  direct  opposition  to  the  best  inter- 
ests of  the  University,  but  it  is  marked  with  the  grossest  ingratitude; 
and  he  has  shown,  by  holding  on  to  his  place  after  he  had  been  notified 
that  his  usefulness  was  gone,  that  he  is  insensible  to  tb.pse  impulses 

•Standard,   October   22,   1856. 


34  James  Sprunt  Historical  Monograph 

and  considerations  which  never  fail  to  operate  on  a  high-toned  and 
honorable  man.  Informed  that  he  had  ceased  to  be  useful,  he  begged 
for  time,  and  at  last  had  to  be  dismissed!  Mr.  Hedrick,  we  believe,  is 
a  beneficiary  of  the  University;  and  he  was  sent  to  Cambridge  on  a 
salary,  and  sustained  there  while  acquiring  and  perfecting  his  knowl- 
edge in  Agricultural  Chemistry.  Warmed  into  life  on  the  hearthstone 
of  the  University,  the  viper  turned  upon  his  Alma  Mater  and  upon  the 
State  of  his  nativity  with  his  envenomed  fangs.  But  he  has  been  cast 
out,  and  is  now  powerless  for  evil.  If  the  abolitionists  should  take 
him  up,  the  history  of  his  conduct  here  will  follow  him;  and  they  will 
know,  as  he  will  feel,  that  they  have  received  to  their  bosom  a  danger- 
ous, but  congenial  and  ungrateful  thing. 
Later  press  comments  are  interesting : 
For  the  Register* 

Mr.  Editor: — In  that  delectable  sheet,  the  Raleigh  Standard,  of  the 
8th  of  October,  we  find  the  following  paragraph  in  reference  to  the 
letter  of  Prof.  Hedrick,  of  the  University  of  North  Carolina,  on  his 
preference  for  Mr.  Fremont  for  the  Presidency.  I  will  not  attempt  a 
justification  of  the  position  of  the  mutton-beaded  Professor  on  the 
subject  of  the  Presidency;  far  be  it  from  me.  If  I  were  to  venture  an 
opinion  on  the  subject,  it  would  be  that  the  Professor  evinced  more 
zeal  than  judgmeni  on  the  subject,  and  tbat  the  Lunatic  Asylum  might 
become  a  fit  receptacle  for  all  such  characters,  if,  upon  examination, 
they  sbould  be  found  to  be  monomaniacs  on  the  subject  of  the  Presi- 
dency. 

And  judging  from  the  dictatorial  tone  of  the  great  Mogul  of  public 
opinion,  as  expressed  in  the  North  Carolina  Standard,  I  would  not  be 
surprised  if  the  astute  Editor  himself  was  not  a  little  demented  on  the 
same  subject. 

But  to  the  paragraph  in  question:  "We,"  says  the  Standard  man, 
"adhere  to  our  opinion  recently  expressed  in  the  Standard.  The  ex- 
pression of  Black  Republicanism  in  our  midst  is  incompatible  with  our 
honor  or  safety  as  a  people;  that  no  man  is  a  fit  or  safe  instructor  of 
our  young  men  who  even  inclines  to  Fremont  or  Black  Republicanism." 

Not  content  with  an  expression  of  opinion,  as  he  had  a  right  to 
on  that  subject,  and  let  it  pass  for  what  it  was  worth  before  the 
public;  but  the  august  personage  presumes  to  dictate  to  the  Trustees 
of  the  University  their  duty.  For,  says  he,  "we  take  it  for  granted 
that  Professor  Hedrick  will  be  promptly  removed."  What  consummate 
presumption!  What  arrogance,  that  W.  W.  Holden  and  Co.,  the  smallest 
of  the  small  of  the  race  of  gentlemen,  should  presume  to  dictate  to  a 
body  of  honorable,  high-minded  gentlemen,  in  an  official  capacity  as 
Trustees  of  the  University,  their  duty  in  reference  to  a  matter  that 
would  be  too  low  a  stoop  for  a  scavenger  to  condescend  to.  If  Professor 
Hedrick  is  a  gentleman  and  finds  his  presence  or  opinions  are  obnoxious 
either  to  the  Professors,  with  whom  he  is  associated,  or  to  the  Trustees 
of  the  University,  he  will  forthwith  resign.  But  for  the  Trustees  to 
be  called  upon  to  ostracise  a  man  for  the  expression  of  an  honest  opin- 
ion is  more  than  ever  entered  the  head  of  any  gentlemen  of  liberal 
views,  who  appreciates  honesty  either  in  word,  thought  or  deed;  and 
that,  too,  simply  because  the  unfortunate  Professor  savours  a  little  or 
too  much  (as  the  Standard  man  supposes)  of  Abolitionism.    Now,  let  me 

•Raleigh   Register,   October  22,   1856. 


Benjamin  Sheruood  Hedrick.  35 

ask,  in  all  sincerity,  what  is  the  difference  between  teaching  the  same 
principle  under  difteient  names  if  the  effect  when  produced,  is  the  same, 
whether  it  be  under  Fremontism  or  Buchananism.  That  Fremont  is  a 
wool-dyed  Democrat  abolitionist  none  will  deny,  and  if  I  can  prove  from 
the  political  record  of  James  Buchanan  that  he  entertains  views  and 
opinions  as  obnoxious  to  the  institutions  of  the  South,  the  stability 
and  perpetuity  of  this  Union,  Professor  Hedrick  at  least  will  have  the 
gratification  to  know  that  he  is  not  alone  in  his  views,  on  this  vexed 
question.  Let  us  now  appeal  to  the  law  and  the  testimony  in  estab- 
lishing the  guilt  or  innocence  of  the  Democratic  party  and  Mr.  Buchanan, 
their  candidate  for  the  Presidency. 

Middle  Creek,  Johnston  Co.,  Oct.  17,  1856. 

Mr.  Hedrick  Again* 

We  are  informed  by  a  friend,  who  deeply  regrets  and  strongly  dis- 
approves Mr.  Hedrick's  conduct,  that  we  are  mistaken  in  our  belief, 
expressed  in  our  last,  that  he  was  a  beneficiary  of  the  University.  We 
learn  that  he  was  in  early  life  an  apprentice  to  the  trade  of  a  brick- 
mason;  and  that  his  father,  having  given  him  his  choice  of  an  educa- 
tion or  his  portion  of  his  estate  at  his  death,  he  chose  an  education, 
and  thus  paid  his  own  way  at  the  University.  We  learn  also,  that  while 
at  Cambridge  he  was  sustained,  not  by  the  University,  but  by  an  office 
bestowed  upon  him  by  Gov.  Graham,  Secretary  of  the  Navy  at  the  time. 

We  make  these  corrections  cheerfully,  as  certainly  we  have  no  dis- 
position to  do  injustice  to,  of  to  trample  on,  a  prostrate  adversary.  His 
punishment  is  great  enough,  without  the  aggravation  of  unjust  accu- 
sations. 

Some  of  the  Know  Nothing  presses  have  referred  to  the  fact  that  Mr. 
Hednck  was  a  Democrat.  We  knew  that  he  had  voted  in  August  last 
for  the  Democratic  ticket;  and  he  has  been  for  some  time  a  subscriber 
to  our  semi-weekly  paper.  But  what  of  that?  Party  is  but  "as  small 
dust  in  the  balance"  when  weighed  against  the  honor  and  vital  interests 
of  North  Carolina.  He  professed  to  be  a  Democrat;  for  Democracy  main- 
tains the  equal  rights  of  the  State  in  the  common  Territories,  and  is 
the  only  great  barrier  in  the  way  of  the  triumph  of  black  Republicanism. 

Not  the  very  least  of  the  evils  connected  with  Mr.  Hedrick's  conduct, 
was  the  dragging  before  the  public  a  body  of  men — his  associate 
Professors — to  whom  publicity  is  distasteful  and  unpleasant,  if  obtained 
elsewhere  than  in  the  pulpit  and  lecture  room.  He  was  solemnly  ad- 
monished that  he  had  no  right  to  do  this;  yet  here,  as  elsewhere,  advice 
was  disregarded.  Nevertheless,  the  University  has  not  been  injured. 
On  the  contrary,  it  has  been  strengthened,  if  possible,  in  the  confidence 
and  respect  of  the  Trustees  and  of  the  people  of  the  State — strength- 
ened, by  the  prompt  action  of  the  Faculty  and  of  the  Executive  Com- 
mittee. We  say  this  as  a  citizen  of  the  State  and  as  a  friend  of  the 
University — not  as  its  champion  or  peculiar  defender,  for  far  be  it  from 
us  to  thrust  ourselves  forward  in  any  other  capacity  than  that  of  a 
friend  to  it,  interested  alike  with  all  the  people  of  the  State  in  main- 
taining its  high  character,  and  in  laboring,  as  best  we  may,  to  widen 
and  enlarge  the  sphere  of  its  usefulness.  What  we  have  done  in  this 
matter  has  been  done  solely  from  convictions  of  public  duty;  and  these 
latter  remarks  are  submitted,  not  as  the  result  of  suggesti<™a  from  any 

•Standard,    October   29,   ISiia, 


36  James  Sprunt  Historical  Monograph. 

quarter — for  none  have  been  made — but  in  justice  to  ourselves  and  to 
the  course  we  have  deemed  it  our  duty  to  pursue. 

Mr.  Hedrick* 

Mr.  Hedrick,  it  seems,  attended  the  State  Educational  Convention 
at  Salisbury;  but  he  was  soon  given  to  understand  that  his  presence 
there  would  not  be  tolerated.     The  Salisbury  Watchman  says: 

"Professor  Hedrick  was  also  in  attendance  on  the  first  night  of  the 
Convention.  He  had  been  appointed  by  the  senatus  consultus  of  our 
University  before  his  very  extraordinary  demonstration  in  politics. 
His  appearance  there  was  very  embarrassing  to  many  of  the  assemblage, 
and  it  is  probable  that  some  expression  of  disapprobation  would  have 
been  called  for  if  he  had  again  attended  the  sessions;  but  a  small  crowd 
of  beardless  patriots  took  the  thing  in  hand  and  saved  the  Convention 
all  trouble  on  that  score.  By  dint  of  a  stuffed  effigy,  made  of  rags, 
which  they  hung  before  the  door  of  the  building,  bedizzened  with  sig- 
nificant inscriptions,  and  by  dint  of  cow-bells,  tin-pans,  and  muttered 
threats  of  further  visitations,  this  simpleton  of  a  Professor,  between 
the  going  down  of  the  sun  and  the  rising  thereof,  had  quite  absqualated; 
or  as  one  of  his  own  Fresh  would  be  apt  to  say,  "Abitt,  excesitt,  evasit, 
erupit." 

The  Salisbury  Herald  says: 

"No  sooner  had  the  Convention  assembled  in  the  Presbyterian 
Church,  on  Tuesday  night,  than  a  rumor  got  afloat  among  the  outsiders 
that  Professor  Hedrick,  of  the  N.  C.  University,  was  in  the  Convention, 
either  as  a  regularly  drafted  or  as  a  volunteered  delegate  from  the  Uni- 
versity. Crowds  flocked  in  and  around  the  door  for  the  purpose  of  be- 
holding the  grim  visage  of  the  man  who  dared,  on  Carolina's  soil, 
to  publicly  announce  himself  in  favor  of  Fremont.  Many  a  long  and 
eager  look  was  taken  before  a  way  was  made  for  the  next  advancing 
corps,  while  ever  and  anon,  some  stripling  who  had  never  read  the 
Standard,  would  worm 'his  way  into  the  thickest  of  the  ranks,  and  call 
aloud  to  some  older  and  wiser  friend  to  point  out  to  him  John  C. 
Fremont.  Hedrick  was  soon  known  to  all  the  elders, — the  Juniors 
gazed  as  they  supposed,  upon  Fremont,  and  thought  he  was  "a  dreadful 
little  man  to  be  the  President."  Meanwhile  the  cries  of  "Hedrick," 
"Fremont,"  and  other  expressions  evinced  that  all  was  not  right,  and 
he  began  to  conceal  his  face  partly  by  the  aid  of  his  cloak,  and  manifest 
other  not  less  symptoms  of  alarm.  What  were  his  feelings  and  his 
agony  we  know  not;  but  leave  him  muffled  in  his  cloak,  listening  to  the 
call  of  the  roll  and  the  organization  of  the  Convention,  while  we  de- 
seribe  the  outdoor  arrangements. 

"Near  the  centre  of  the  street  facing  the  door  of  the  said  Church,  an 
effigy  was  raised  in  honor  of  the  Professor,  and  they  named  it  Hedrick. 
In  front  of  the  effigy  was  a  transparency  bearing  the  inscription— 
Hedrick,  leave  or  tar  and  feathers.  So  soon  as  the  Convention  was 
adjourned  it  was  set  on  fire;  and  being  composed  of  very  combustible 
material,  well  saturated  with  spirits  of  turpentine,  it  required  but  a 
few  moments  to  tell  the  sad  tale  of  its  ethereal  and  everlasting  depar- 
ture from  this  howling  wilderness.  Three  groans  for  Hedrick,  and  all 
was  over — the  effigy  was  gone.  He  was  followed  by  the  crowd, 
some  two  or  three  hundred  in  number,  to  the  house  in  which  he  lodged, 

•standard,   November   1,    1S56. 


Benjamin  Sherwood  Hedrick.  37 

where  he  was  serenaded  in  "Calithumpian  style."  Three  groans  were 
ever  and  anon  repeated,  and  the  Professor  ordered  to  leave  without 
delay,  or  be  subjected  to  an  application  of  "juice  of  the  pine  and  the 
hair  of  the  goose."  But  for  a  faithful  promise  on  the  part  of  the 
Professor  such  would  have  been  his  lot.  But  before  sunrise  he  was 
gone,  we  suppose  never  more  to  return.  May  our  town  never  be  visited 
with  such  another  manifestation  of  indignation  on  the  part  of  the  citi- 
zens of  the  town  and  county.  The  circumstances  and  its  origin  are  the 
more  remarkable  from  the  fact,  that  the  Professor  was  raised  in  this 
community,  and  that  his  father  is  now  a  citizen  of  this  county.  We 
pity  the  man  for  his  indiscretion  and  folly  for  having  laid  himself 
liable  to  the  public  indignation  of  those  who  were  once  his  neighbors 
and  friends."  sr 

We  learn  that  Mr.  Hedrick  passed  through  this  City  on  Thursday 
last,  on  his  way  North. 

Mr.  Hedrick  Once  ALore* 

In  an  article  on  the  dismissal  of  Prof.  Hedrick  published  in  the 
Standard  of  the  22d  inst..,  the  writer  says:  "Mr.  Hedrick,  we  believe,  is 
a  beneficiary  of  the  University,  and  he  was  sent  to*  Cambridge  on  a 
salary,  and  sustained  there  while  perfecting  his  knowledge  in  agricul- 
tural chemistry; "  and  on  the  strength  of  these  statements,  Mr.  Hedrick 
is  charged  with  "the  grossest  ingratitude."  The  writer  of  that  article 
was  doubtless  misinformed.  The  statements,  above  quoted,  are  not 
true,  and  the  charge  of  "ingratitude"  therefore  fails.  Enough  indeed, 
has  been  said  of  late  against  Mr.  Hedrick  to  make  it  unnecessary  to 
einployvallegations  of  doubtful,  or  of  no  authority. 

The  fact  is  that  Mr.  Hedrick  was  never  in  any  sense  "a  beneficiary 
of  the  University."  All  his  College  bills,  from  the  beginning  to  the 
end  of  his  College  life,  were  duly  paid  by  his  father.  The  University 
has  not,  and  has  never  had  any  claim  on  him  on  that  score,  other  than 
it  has  on  all  who  have  ever  enjoyed  the  advantages  of  an  education 
there.  Neither  was  he  "sent  to  Cambridge  on  a  salary"  by  the  Univer- 
sity, as  is  implied,  or  by  any  person  connected  with  it.  The  facts  are 
these:  that  about  the  time  when  Mr.  Hedrick  was  graduated,  the 
President  of  the  University  received  from  the  then  Secretary  of  the 
Navy  a  suggestion  that  a  subordinate  place  in  one  of  the  scientific  bu- 
reaus, connected  with  his  department,  was  then  vacant,  and  asking  if 
there  was  among  the  recent  graduates  a  good  mathematician,  compe- 
tent to  fill  it.  Mr.  Hedrick  received  the  nomination  of  the  Faculty, 
and  was  appointed  by  the  department,  and  ordered  to  reside  in  Cam- 
bndge.  During  the  whole  time  of  his  residence  there,  he  was  support- 
ed by  the  salary  which  he  earned  from  the  U.  S.  government,  and  never 
received  a  dollar  from  the  treasury  of  the  University  until  he  had  ac- 
tually entered  on  the  discharge  of  his  duties  there,  as  Professor  of  Agri- 
cultural Chemistry,  it  may  be  added  that  the  salary  which  he  received 
at  Cambridge  was  precisely  the  same  as  the  one  offered  him  when  he 
was  called  to  Chapel  Hill,  so  that  he  could  have  hoped  to  gain  by  the 
change  nothing  more  than  the  pleasure  of  making  his  home  in  hia 
native  State. 

The  writer  of  these  lines  is  in  a  condition  to  know  the  truth  of 
the  matters  whereof  he  affirms,  and  could  easily  demonstrate  it  to  one 

♦Standard,    November    5,    1856. 


38  James  Sprunt  Historical  Monograph. 

who  would  take  a  little  trouble  in  the  investigation.  He  may  be  al- 
lowed to  express  the  hope  that  those  who  are  inclined  to  speak  or 
think  ill  of  Mr.  Hedrick,  will  do  so  only  on  clear  evidence,  and  after 
some  examination. 

The  above  communication  was  received  in  time,  and  should  have 
appeared  in  our  last,  but  was  unavoidably  crowded  out.  It  is  from  a 
highly  respectable  source,  and  we  cheerfully  insert  it. 

A  writer  in  the  last  Register,  after  correcting  some  of  the  mistakes 
into  which  the  Standard  had  fallen,  and  which  the  Standard  itself 
had  promptly  corrected  says: 

"It  is  due  to  the  Standard  to  say  that  in  its  last  issue  the  two 
above  statements  are  withdrawn,  but  it  also  contains  allegations  which 
are  no  less  erroneous." 

"Mr.  Hedrick  never  was  in  early  life  nor  at  any  time,  an  appren- 
tice to  the  trade  of  a  brick-mason  or  of  any  other  trade. 

"His  lather  never  gave  him  his  choice  of  an  education  or  his  portion 
of  his  estate  at  his  death." 

It  is  due  to  the  Standard  to  state,  that  the  "allegations"  here  charac- 
terized as  "erroneous"  were  made  on  unquestionable  authority;  which 
authority  could  be  given,  if  at  all  necessary.  They  were  made  as  a 
portion  of  the  matter,  the  publication  of  which  we  deemed  an  act 
of  justice  to  Mr.  Hedrick — but  surely  they  are  most  material  statements. 
They  amount  to  nothing  if  he  had  been  apprenticed  "to  the  trade  of  a 
brick-mason,"  and  had  learned  and  followed  that  trade.  He  might 
have  been  saved  from  the  perils  ol  that  "much  learning,"  and  from  that 
contact  with  abolitionism  at  Cambridge,  which  in  his  case  has  certainly 
produced  "madness."  But  true  men  have  gone  through  that  contact, 
and  have  come  out  of  it  pure  gold,  because  their  hearts  were  right,  and 
because  they  regarded  tbe  obligations  of  a  Constitutional  Union,  and 
not  tbe  claims  of  sectionalism  and  the  promptings  of  a  sickly  sentimen- 
tality. Our  correspondent  "An  Alumnus,"  was  at  Cambridge,  if  we  are 
not  mistaken,  when  Judge  Loring,  one  of  the  professors  in  the  College, 
was  removed  by  an  abolition  Legislature  for  having  acted  as  United 
States'  Commissioner,  under  a  Constitutional  law — the  fugitive-slave 
law;  and  he  forthwith  left  the  institution  and  returned  home,  on  ac- 
count of  that  high-handed  measure  in  relation  to  Judge  Loring. 

But  we  have  no  disposition  to  dwell  upon  this  matter;  nor  is  it  our 
wish  to  do  any  man  injustice.  We  have  already  been  chided  by  some  of 
our  friends,  for  allowing  Mr.  Hedrick  a  hearing  in  our  columns.  But 
he  was  called  out  by  our  correspondent — he  was  struck — he  spoke  for 
himself,  and  as  he  spoke  no  sedition,  we  gave  him  a  hearing.  On  strict 
principles  of  justice  as  between  man  and  man,  we  did  right;  but  we 
knew,  furthermore,  that  if  refused  a  hearing  here,  he  would  have  gone 
into  Northern  Journals,  and  a  great  cry  would  have  been  raised  that 
the  South  had  denied  him  freedom  of  speech.  As  it  is,  he  was  removed 
from  his  place,  as  we  understand  it,  not  because  he  had  avowed  himself 
for  a  geographical,  disunion  candidate  for  the  Presidency,  but  because, 
having  taken  part  publicly  in  politics,  he  had  ceased  to  be  useful  as  a 
Professor;  and  this  part  in  politics  he  took  by  the  publication  of  his 
so-called  "Defence"  in  the  Standard.  That  publication,  therefore,  was 
the  cause  of  his  removal. 

Our  correspondent  expresses  the  "hope  that  those  who  are  inclined 
to  speak  or  think  ill  of  Mr.  Hedrick,  will  do  so  only  on  clear  evidence, 


Benjamin  Sherwood  Hedrick.  39 

and  after  some  examination."  We  concur  with  him.  We  thought  we 
had  "clear  evidence" — but  when  informed  to  the  contrary,  we  were 
prompt  to  make  the  correction.  That  was  all  we  could  do.  We  are  not 
only  "inclined  to  speak  ill"  of  Mr.  Hedrick,  but  we  denounce  him  as  an 
enemy  to  North  Carolina,  to  the  Union  of  the  States,  and  to  the  best 
hopes  of  man.  We  have  aided  to  magnify  him  somewhat  in  the  public 
eye,  but  that  was  one  of  the  unavoidable  incidents,  and  not  the  object. 
Our  object  was  to  rid  the  University  and  the  State  of  an  avowed  Fre- 
mont man;  and  we  have  succeeded.  And  we  now  say,  after  due  consid- 
eration, but  with  no  purpose  to  make  any  special  application  of  the 
remark,  that  no  man  who  is  avowedly  for  John  C.  Fremont  for  Pres- 
ident, ought  to  be  allowed  to  breathe  the  air  or  to  tread  the  soil  of 
North  Carolina.  * . 

While  on  this  subject,  we  make  the  following  extract  from  a  letter 
recently  received  from  one  of  the  most  intelligent  and  substantial  gen- 
tlemen of  Eastern  Carolina,  written  before  he  had  heard  of  Mr.  Hed- 
rick's  removal: 

"The  people  of  our  State  and  of  the  South  owe  you  a  debt  of  grati- 
tude, for  bringing  to  public  notice  the  abolition  principles  of  one  of 
our  Professors  at  the  University,  Mr.  Hedrick.  The  admirable  manner 
in  which  you  have  handled  him — giving  him  a  hearing  without  stop- 
ping to  argue  with  him,  and  then  holding  him  up  to  public  contempt 
•and  scorn — will  doubtless  meet  the  approbation  of  every  patron  of  the 
institution.  You  assure  your  readers  that  he  will  be  removed,  if  he 
does  not  resign.  I  hope  this  may  be  the  case.  If,  however,  he  does 
not  leave  the  College,  I  shall  feel  it  to  be  my  duty  to  withdraw  my  son, 
at  the  close  of  the  present  session,  from  any  contact  with  the  foul 
pollution." 

Mr.  Black  Republican  Hedrick* 

This  person,  we  understand,  was  in  this  city  on  Thursday  last. 

The  press  of  the  State  has,  with  one  voice,  condemned  his  conduct, 
and  expressed  a  wish  for  his  dismissal.  The  abolition  press  of  the 
free  States  is  rejoicing  over  his  treason  to  his  section  and  to  the  Con- 
stitution. 

The  last  Wilmington  Commercial  says: 

"The  press  of  this  State  is  making  quite  a  'lion'  of  one  Mr.  Hedrick, 
a  teacher  in  our  University,  who  has  owned  himself  a  black  repub- 
lican. There  is  a  disputation  about  whether  he  was  a  democrat 
or  not  in  former  times.  This  question  is  of  no  importance.  What 
he  is  now  is  the  inquiry,  and  he  is  certainly  neither  a  democrat  nor  a 
whig.  We  do  not  see  what  can  be  done,  unless  the  Faculty  choose  to 
send  the  fellow  about  his  business  as  a  mischief  maker  in  a  small 
way,  and  let  him  take  up  his  bed  and  board  with  the  northern  enemies 
of  the  South  and  her  institutions." 

Mr.  Hedrick  took  his  rlipnrrifsa]  in  a  manly  fashion  as  is  indi- 
cated by  the  two  letters  which  follow: 

B.  S.  Hedrick  to  Charles  Manly. 

Chapel  Hill,  Oct.  28,  1856. 
Gov.  Manly, 

Dear  Sir: — Accompanying  this  I  send  you  a  letter  which  I  wrote  be- 
•Weekly  North  Carolina  Standard,   October  22,   185?. 


40  James  Sprunt  Historical  Monograph 

fore  visiting  you  in  Raleigh.  I  believe  that  I  mentioned  to  you  the  fact  that 
I  had  written  it;  certainly  I  mentioned  it  to  some  of  the  Board.  When 
I  came  home  from  the  Fair  it  was  too  late  to  send  it  during  that  week, 
and  the  speedy  action  of  your  Committee  left  no  place  for  it  afterwards. 
I  send  it  to  you  now  and  for  your  private  reading,  and  as  giving  me 
an  opportunity  to  thank  you  for  the  uniform  kindness  you  have  al- 
ways shown  me.  I  would  send  it  to  the  Committee  as  I  at  first  in- 
tended, but  for  fear  that  it  might  come  to  tfolden  and  thus  give  him 
another  opportunity  of  accusing  me  of  "begging." 

By  Holden's  having  access  to  everything  the  Committee  did,  your 
first  resolutions  came  to  me  in  pretty  much  this  shape,  "Resign  or  be 
damned,"  and  that  is  what  Holden  calls  occupying  a  "delicate  posi- 
tion!" very  delicate  indeed!!  Something  like  giving  you  a  delicate 
hint  to  leave  by  kicking  you  down  stairs.  I  am  sorry  some  members 
of  your  Board  have  such  fine  perception  of  delicacy. 

I   thank  you  again  for  all  your  kindness.     You  helped  cut  off  my 
head  but  I  know  you  made  the  blow  fall  as  light  as  you  could. 
Truly  and  sincerely  yours, 

B.    S.   Hedbick. 
B.  S.  Hedrick  to  Charles  Manly. 

New   York  City,   March   21,   1857. 
Dear  Sir: 

Before  the  Executive  Committee  voted  to  turn  me  out  of  the  Uni- 
versity Gov.  Swain  wrote  to  them  quite  a  long  letter,  in  the  shape  of 
a  legal  opinion,  in  which  he  argued  (and  I  think  proved)  that  the 
Executive  Committee  had  no  power  to  remove  any  professor,  such 
power  belonging  only  to  the  trustees,  and  only  to  be  exercised  at  the 
annual  meeting.  Now,  although  this  letter  of  Gov.  S's  was 
altogether  powerless  with  the  Committee,  still  as  part  of  the  proceed- 
ings I  wish  to  keep  correct  copy — in  fact  it  is  due  to  Gov.  S.  that 
he  should  stand  correct  on  the  record  when  the  history  of  that  dis- 
graceful affair  is  written.  And  I  think  I  also  have  a  claim  to  its  pos- 
session. There  are  a  few  other  "documents"  that  I  would  be  glad  to 
have,  but  fear  that  1  am  already  troubling  you  too  much. 

With  high  regards  and  many  thanks  for  your  uniform  kindness, 
I  am  Yours  truly, 

B.    S.   Hedrick. 
Hon.  Chas.  Manly,  Raleigh,  N.  C. 
This  request  was  refused  by  Manly  as  is  shown  by  the  endorse- 
ment upon  the  letter  in  his  writing.     From  the  same  source  it 
is  learned  that  the   Trustees   at  their  meeting  of  January  5, 
1857  confirmed  the  action  of  the  Executive  Committee. 

Mr.  Hedrick  bore  no  malice  against  his  colleagues  and  seems 
to  have  realized  that  even  the  Trustees  could  scarcely  have 
avoided  their  action.     Nor  was  his  devotion  to  his  native  State 


Benjamin  Sherwood  Hedrick.  41 

altered.  But  his  opposition  to  slavery  was  greatly  strengthened 
and  he  left  the  State  with  a  hatred  of  Mr.  Holden  that  was 
undying. 

Kemaining  in  the  North  for  a  few  months,  he  returned  to  the 
State  early  in  1857  for  a  short  stay.  He  then  went  to  New 
York  City  where  he  obtained  a  clerkship  in  the  Mayor's  office. 
He  also  employed  himself  with  lecturing  and  teaching.  In  1861 
he  become  an  examiner  in  the  Patent  Office,  as  chief  of  the 
division  of  chemistry,  metallurgy,  and  electricity.  Later  he  was 
general  chemical  examiner.  Here  he  was  successful  in  institut- 
ing a  number  of  needed  reforms. 

In  1865  Mr.  Hedrick  was  very  close  to  President  Johnson 
and  was  active  in  attempting  to  secure  the  speedy  restoration 
of  North  Carolina  to  the  Union.  He  believed  that  negro  suf- 
frage would  be  demanded  by  the  North  and  was  very  anxious 
that  the  State  should  accept  it  as  gracefully  and  speedily  as 
possible  for  reasons  of  policy.  In  other  respects  he  was  in  full 
accord  with  the  dominant  sentiment  in  the  State.  He  was  a  close 
friend  of  Governor  Jonathan  Worth  and  his  activity  in  behalf 
of  the  State  during  "Worth's  administration  was  unceasing  as  is 
shown  by  their  correspondence. 

The  foreging  incident  shows  very  plainly  the  effect  of  slavery 
upon  free  thought  and  free  speech.  Mr.  Hedrick  was  a  martyr 
for  opinion's  sake,  though  without  any  desire  to  occupy  that 
position.  Under  existing  circumstances,  it  was  inevitable  that 
his  dismissal  should  take  place,  and,  accepting  conditions,  the 
Trustees  could  scarcely  be  blamed  for  terminating  his  connec- 
tion with  the  University.  As  Dr.  Charles  Phillips,  a  great 
friend  of  Hedrick  said,  ''I  take  it  as  an  axiom  that  when  we 
wish  to  work  for  the  people  for  the  people's  good,  we  are  bound 
to  consider  their  characteristics  and  not  arouse  their  prejudices 
unnecessary,  else  they  won't  let  us  work  for  them."  But  his 
summary  dismissal  by  the  Executive  Committee,  without  legal 
authority  was  unwarranted  and  is  a  fit  cause  for  condemnation. 

Time  has  proved  that  Mr.  Hedrick 's  view  of  slavery  was  cor- 


42  James  Sprunt  Historical  Monograph. 

rect  and  it  is  a  cause  for  congratulation  that  its  abolition  put 
an  end  to  the  possibility  of  such  persecution  for  opinion's  sake, 
and  has  enabled  the  State  and  the  University  to  recognize  the 
worth  and  merit  of  a  worthy  son. 


J.  G.  de  Roulhac  Hamilton 


